The Hobbit
by luvuni
Summary: Female Fem Bilbo: Bella Baggins is invited to be a burglar & go on an adventure. Throughout this journey, her heart begins to fall for one Thorin Oakenshield, and she can only hope to win his heart. He seems to hate her, but perhaps with a bit of luck that'll change... Follows the Hobbit story line but with differences and romance. *Contains excerpts and some parts from the Hobbit*
1. An Unexpected Party

Chapter 1: An Unexpected Party

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a dirty, gross, wet hole filled with a foul odor, nor a terribly dry, desert-like hole. It was a hobbit hole, and that meant comfort.

It had a perfectly round door, painted green, with a shiny golden knob in the center. The door opened into a tunnel shaped hall. It was a very comfortable tunnel, with paneled walls, and floors tiled and carpeted, provided with comfortable chairs, and lots and lots of book shelves, and many pegs for hats and coats. This hobbit was fond of visitors. The tunnel wound not too far, going straight into the hill, and several little doors opened out of it. No going upstairs for this hobbit; everything was on the first and only floor, and all along the same passage. The best rooms were all on the left hand side, all going in, for these rooms were the ones that had windows, deep-set round windows looking over the garden and fields beyond.

The hobbit was a very gentle hobbit, and her name was Bella Baggins. The Bagginses had lived for quite some time in the neighborhood of the Hill, and people considered them to be a respectable bunch, at least, until Bella was born. Bagginses were supposed to be unadventurous, and predictable. This is a story of how an unhobbit-like hobbit went on the adventure of a life time.

The parents of this particular hobbit – what is a hobbit? Well, to describe a hobbit would be easy, if not for the fact that Bella was not your average hobbit. Hobbits were short, as was she (even smaller than dwarves) and had feet with leather soles on the bottom. Her feet were a bit smaller than most hobbits', and instead of a thick brown fur on top of them, she had bare feet. This was considered to be odd and rare amongst hobbits, although it was more common to occur with females than males. Hobbits do not grow beards, and have very little magic about them. Most hobbits have brown hair, and Bella is one of them, although hers is a dark chocolate color and falls down her back in thick curls, whereas most have a lighter color and a reddish tint and prefer to keep theirs cropped shorter. All Hobbits are considered to be more respectable if they are plump, but Bella has always preferred to be a healthy weight, yet still curvy, and with lightly defined muscle. Many Hobbits considered her odd for wishing to remain a bit more slender.

By some curious chance one morning a good many years ago in the quietness of the Shire, when there was little noise and lots of green, Bella was standing at her door nibbling on a muffin – Gandalf came by. All that unsuspecting Bella saw that morning was an old man with a staff. He had a tall pointed blue hat, a long grey cloak, a silver scarf over which his long white beard hung down, and immense black boots.

"Good Morning!" Bella said, and she grinned. The sun was positively sparkling as it shone down upon the green grass of the Shire. Gandalf looked at her fondly, with a twinkle in his eye.

"That it is!" he said. "But do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?"

"All of them at once," said Bella. "And it is a very fine morning for sitting on one's porch with a muffin. Would you care to join me?"

"As intriguing of an offer as that it, I must decline," said Gandalf. "I have no time to enjoy a muffin this morning. I am looking for someone to share an adventure with, and it's very difficult to find anyone."

Bella let out a small chuckle. "You'll never find any man in these parts willing to go on an adventure. Most of us are plain, quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Although, I find their distaste for adventures to be shocking. I can only imagine getting to travel the world, seeing new things at every bend and dealing with dangers among the side of companions." At Gandalf's knowing look, Bella blushed. "Oh, excuse me for my ramblings. Many a folk around here think me a bit odd for my brooding on things that just cannot happen for a young hobbit woman such as myself." Which was very true since Bella was only in her early adulthood. Many think that marriage should be her next big decision in life, but she was inclined to disagree.

"May I come over for tea tomorrow?" Gandalf said at last.

"Of course you may!" Bella said. "Hopefully by then you've found the adventurer you're looking for. What is your name, good sir?"

"You do know my name, though, you don't remember I belong to it. I am Gandalf, and Gandalf means me!"

"Gandalf!" Bella spluttered, nearly choking on a bite of her muffin. "Good gracious me! I should have known it was you! The rumors of you spilling about in the Shire about a wizard disturbing the peace and the Hobbits that disappear with you."

"Yes, that would be me," he said, that glint shining strongly in his eyes. "I'll be over tomorrow for tea. Goodbye Bella Baggins."

"Goodbye Gandalf," Bella said, wondering slightly how he knew her name as she went inside her Hobbit hole, shutting the round door behind her.

Gandalf in the meantime was still standing outside the door. After a while he stepped up, and with the spike on his staff scratched a queer sign on the hobbit's beautiful green door. Then he strode away, just as Bella was contemplating what it would be like if _she_ was invited to go on this adventure.

The next day, she was up bright and early, preparing cakes and muffins and a meal large enough for an army. Knowing Gandalf, since he was a one of the larger folk (and she wasn't even half his height) he'd eat a fair bit. After cooking, she brushed her hair so that it fell in soft waves down her back, and dressed in her finest navy blue dress and corset.

Just before tea-time there came a tremendous ring on the front-door bell. Hiking up her dress skirt, she ran to the door.

"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting!" Bella was going to say, when she saw that it was not Gandalf at all. It was a dwarf, bald on the top of his head, but with a long black beard and had a dark green hood. As soon as the door was opened, he pushed inside as if he had been expected.

He hung his hooded cloak on the nearest peg, and looked surprised for a moment as he looked down at her. "Dwalin at your service!" he said with a low bow.

"Bella Baggins at yours!" she said in shock, dipping in a slight curtsey. She was too surprised to ask any questions for the moment. Not forgetting her manners she said: "I am just about to take tea, would you like to come join me?" Knowing that he was a man who probably enjoyed his ale, she added: "Or perhaps something a little stronger?"

She went and showed him to her long dining room table and showed him where the barrels of ale were when the doorbell rang again.

"Excuse me!" said the hobbit as she darted to the door once again.

"So you've finally arrived!" she was going to say to Gandalf this time. But it was not Gandalf. Instead there was a very old-looking dwarf on the step with a white beard and a scarlet hood. He too stepped inside as if he had been invited.

"I see they have begun to arrive already," he said when he caught sight of Dwalin's green hood hanging up. He hung up his red one next to it, and "Balin at your service, Madame!" with his hand on his breast.

"Bella Baggins at yours!" she said for the second time that night to a total stranger. She liked having visitors, but she liked knowing who they were before they showed up on her doorstep as if they'd been invited. "Come along in, and have some tea or ale!"

"Thank you," the dwarf said kindly, although he too looked surprised at the sight of Bella, as if she were not what he expected to see. While she sent him off in the direction of the dining hall, she brought more food from the pantry into the room, surprised to see Balin and Dwalin talking at the table like old friends. As soon as she set down the trays, another loud ring at the bell again, and then another!

"Gandalf for certain this time," she thought as she ran to the door. But it was not. It was two more (younger) dwarves with blue hoods, silver belts, and one with a blond beard and one with a black beard. Each carried a blade strapped over their shoulders, slightly startling the hobbit from the sight of the weapons. As soon as the door was open, they both came inside.

"What can I do for you, my dwarves?" she asked, eyeballing their weapons.

"Kili at your service!" said the one with the darker beard. "And Fili," said the other. They both swept off their hoods and weapons and hung them on one of the many hooks.

"Bella Baggins at yours!" she said for the umpteenth time that night.

"Dwalin and Balin are already here, I see," Fili said. The two dwarves smiled at her as they followed her into the dining room. As soon as the two sat down, the doorbell rang again!

The poor little hobbit ran back to the door, when five more dwarves pooled inside. They all said "At your service," and introduced themselves as Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, and Gloin. They, too, all seem seemed surprised when they saw her. All five of them hung up the hoods and any weapons they carried before following her to the dining room. Once they were seated, she darted to the pantry to gather some more food and ale and was pleasantly surprised when Fili and Kili came to give her a hand at carrying it all.

"Thank you," she murmured as she handed them various items to carry into the dining hall.

"Think nothing of it, Bella," Kili said with a cheeky grin. At that moment, the doorbell rang once again.

With a sigh, she ran to the door and opened it to see three dwarves and Gandalf standing on her doorstep. They all stepped inside. "Good evening Bella. May I introduce Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur!"

"At your service!" said Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur. Bella repeated the gesture. They all hung up their hoods and weapons. Once she guided the four of them into the dining hall, she was mildly amused to see all the dwarves talking and laughing with each other. As weird and strange as it was, it was nice to have a full house. She didn't get many visitors since she was so odd.

The doorbell rang once again, and everyone fell silent. "He's finally here," Gandalf said, sharing a knowing look with the dwarves. "This is our most important member, Bella."

Hiking up her skirts for what she prayed was the last time that night, she ran to the door and opened it, revealing a tall, broad dwarf on her doorstep. A blush stained her cheeks as she took in his massive form, with long black hair and a short beard. Thin strands of silver flowed through his hair in a few places. He was dressed in a fine blue coat and had a fur lined cloak draped over his shoulders. A mighty sword was hung at his hip. This man looked the most surprised to see her, causing her blush to deepen. He stepped inside. No greeting came from him as he stared down at her with piercing blue eyes.

"Ah, Bella, this is Thorin Oakenshield," Gandalf's voice came, and Bella turned to see the wizard and all the dwarves standing a few feet away from them. Thorin silently followed the dwarves and Gandalf into the dining room, while Bella tried to calm her heart.

"What was it about him that had me react like that?" she thought. "Perhaps I'm just a bit tired, or flustered from the unexpected company."

Once the dwarves and Gandalf were seated, Bella watched with fascination as the devoured more food than she thought was possible. She sat at a stool by the fire, and felt oddly out of place in her own home as she watched how comfortable they all were together. They ate and ate and ate until finally they pushed their chairs back and she stood up to go collect their plates.

Thereupon the twelve dwarves – not Thorin for he stayed to talk with Gandalf – jumped to their feet and made tall piles of all the things. Off they went, not waiting for trays, balancing columns of plates, each with a bottle on top, while Bella watched nervously, and hoping they didn't smash her china. Thankfully, nothing was smashed, and soon everything was cleaned and put away, while Bella was standing in the middle of the kitchen trying to observe how they were doing everything so quickly. When they went back into the dining room, Gandalf and Thorin were ending a discussion.

"Now for some music," said Thorin.

Kili and Fili rushed for their bags and brought back little fiddles; Dori, Nori, and Ori brought out flutes from somewhere inside their coats; Bombur produced a drum from the hall; Bifur and Bufur went out too and came back with clarinets. Dwalin and Balin went outside and came back with huge viols and a golden harp for Thorin. It was a beautiful golden harp, and when he struck it the music began all at once, so sudden and sweet that Bella forgot everything else. And suddenly, first one and then another began to sing as they played, deep-throated singing of the dwarves in the deep places of their ancient homes; and this is like a fragment of their song:

_Far over the misty mountains cold_  
_To dungeons deep and caverns old_  
_We must away ere break of day_  
_To seek the pale enchanted gold._

_The dwarves of yore made mighty spells,_  
_While hammers fell like ringing bells_  
_In places deep, where dark things sleep,_  
_In hollow halls beneath the fells._

_For ancient king and elvish lord_  
_There many a gleaming golden hoard_  
_They shaped and wrought, and light they caught_  
_To hide in gems on hilt of sword._

_On silver necklaces they strung_  
_The flowering stars, on crowns they hung_  
_The dragon-fire, in twisted wire_  
_They meshed the light of moon and sun._

_Far over the misty mountains cold_  
_To dungeons deep and caverns old_  
_We must away, ere break of day,_  
_To claim our long-forgotten gold._

_Goblets they carved there for themselves_  
_And harps of gold; where no man delves_  
_There lay they long, and many a song_  
_Was sung unheard by men or elves._

_The pines were roaring on the height,_  
_The winds were moaning in the night._  
_The fire was red, it flaming spread;_  
_The trees like torches blazed with light._

_The bells were ringing in the dale_  
_And men they looked up with faces pale;_  
_The dragon's ire more fierce than fire_  
_Laid low their towers and houses frail._

_The mountain smoked beneath the moon;_  
_The dwarves they heard the tramp of doom._  
_They fled their hall to dying fall_  
_Beneath his feet, beneath the moon._

_Far over the misty mountains grim_  
_To dungeons deep and caverns dim_  
_We must away, ere break of day,_  
_To win our harps and gold from him!_

As they sang, Bella felt the love of beautiful things made by hands and by cunning and by magic moving through her, a fierce and jealous love, the desire of the hearts of dwarves. Thorin's voice was enchanting to her, having taken her away from her hobbit hole and to the mountains that he spoke of. She wished that she could see these mountains, and hear the pine-trees and the waterfalls, and explore the vast lands. She stood up, having felt a chill settle over her body.

"Where are you going?" asked Thorin, in a tone that suggested she might be going off to flee or something.

"To get my cloak," she said simply. "I'm feeling a tad chilled at this late hour." Darting into the hall, she grabbed her black cloak and slung it over her shoulders before walking back into the room to take her seat.

"Where is your husband?" Thorin asked, shocking Bella.

"M-my what?" she stuttered, gaping at him. A little bit horrified, she added: "I'm not married!"

"Gandalf!" Thorin snapped, turning to face the wizard. "We must start our business, and we need the Baggins gentleman that will be joining us."

Gandalf's head tilted slightly at this. "There is no Baggins gentleman, Thorin. Bella is the Baggins I intend to take with us."

Bella's heart leapt with glee until she saw the utter horror and disgust on Thorin's face, crushing her hopes. "She's a woman! Surely you must be joking, Gandalf! She'll only cause more problems for all of us, slowing us down."

Before Gandalf could reply, something in Bella snapped. Standing up, she pointed a delicate finger at Thorin, locking her blue eyes with his. "You listen here Mr. Thorin Oakenshield. I don't know who you think you are, but how dare you come into my house and insult me like that. I'm just as capable as any _man_ in the world and have a particular fondness for the idea of leaving this boring hobbit hole." With a huff, she sat back down, not missing the shock and anger in Thorin's eyes.

"There you have it," Gandalf said, as if that covered everything. All the other dwarves stared at Bella in shock, as if it had been taboo to stand up to Thorin like that. "Now Thorin, I want to hear nothing else on the matter. Start talking about what is going to be happening."

As Thorin started to talk, Bella became intrigued at the start of the adventure that he was describing. Before long, Gandalf spread a piece of parchment onto the table.

"This was made by Thror, your grandfather, Thorin," he said. "It is a plan of the Mountain."

"I don't see that this will help us much," said Thorin disappointedly after a glance. "I remember the Mountain well enough and the lands about it. And I know where Mirkwood is, and the Withered Heath where the great dragons bred."

"There is a dragon marked in red on the Mountain," said Balin, "but it will be easy enough to find him without that, if ever we arrive there."

"There is one point that you haven't noticed," said Gandalf, "and that is the secret entrance. You see that rune on the West side and the hand pointing to it from the other runes? That marks a hidden passage to the Lower Halls."

"It may have been secret once," said Thorin, "but how do we know that it is secret any longer? Old Smaug has lived there long enough now to find anything there is to know about those caves."

"He may – but he can't have used it for years and years. He could not creep into a hole that small, certainly not after devouring so many dwarves and men of Dale. Also, with the map went a key, and here it is!" He handed Thorin a key with a long barrel and intricate wards, made of silver. "Keep it safe."

"Indeed I will," said Thorin, and he fastened it upon a fine chain that hung around his neck under his coat. "Now things begin to look hopeful."

They began to discuss plans about where they would head to and how they would maneuver their way up to the Mountains where Smaug resided. Bella was shocked when she was informed that if she went along, she would get a share of the treasure if they succeeded. She cared not for treasure, but the adventure sounded intriguing. Shock filled her as she learned more about Thorin's history, and that he was the next King Under the Mountain.

When everything was finished, the dwarves all retired to her various spare rooms and sofas, while she tiredly crawled into bed. From the room next to hers, where Thorin lay, she could hear him humming that tune from earlier. It lulled her to sleep that night, sending her off into a peaceful sleep, eager of the upcoming adventure and chance to prove herself to these strangers.


	2. Trolling Around

Chapter 2: Trolling Around

Bella was awoken the next morning to the sound of feet walking up and down her hallway, and voices chatting happily. Blinking confusedly for a few moments, yesterday's events rushed to her memory. "They must all be up!" she gasped, as she flung herself out of bed and changed into her traveling dress; a red, knee length gown that was both warm and light. Glancing in her mirror, she brushed out her curls before walking into the hallway.

"Good morning Bella," one of the dwarves, Balin, said to her as he carried a tray of food to the dining room. Other dwarves were also assisting in bringing food and drinks. Shaking her head slightly with a fond smile, she walked into the dining room and saw that Thorin and Gandalf were already seated and eating while the others were just beginning to sit down. A chorus of good mornings and hellos were said to her as she too sat down, which she repeated with a happy smile. She pretended not to feel Thorin's glare through her back.

They sat and ate for a short while before soon they were up and heading out the door. As the dwarves piled out of her hobbit hole, Gandalf turned to her. "Bella, you must pack the basic necessities and then meet us at the Green Dragon Inn in two hours. Please do be punctual!" With that, Gandalf was out the door and she was once again left alone.

"This is going to be so much fun!" she squealed in delight, finally being able to be happy and giddy without looking childish. Running to her closet, she pulled out her travelling pack and inside it placed another traveling dress, as well as a pair of fine leggings and a warm shirt and jacket. From her pantry, she stuffed a few non-perishable food items inside her bag, hoping that they'd last her more than a week. She didn't want to have to rely on the dwarves for food, feeling that it would be rude. Also in her pack, she placed a hair brush, water canteens, and a few other insignificant items. Bella did not own any weapons, so she was forced to depart her home for an adventure unarmed. Perhaps she could find a weapon along the way. As she left her hobbit hole, she put on her black cloak, fastening it around her neck.

Setting out, she walked down the lane, past the great Mill, across The Water, and then on for a mile or more. When she got to Bywater, Bella spotted the dwarves saddling up a large amount of ponies and strapping their bags onto the beasts' backs. A small black pony stood off to the side, which she realized was more than likely hers. "Just great," Bella thought, "I wore a dress and now I have to ride. Side-saddle it is, I guess!"

Some of the dwarves (Kili, Fili, Balin, Ori, and Bofur) greeted her when she arrived, while the others simply ignored her or gave her a slight head nod. Thorin Oakenshield was one of the ones who ignored her, and she could tell that he was upset that she had showed up. It stung a bit that he resented her so much; after all, he'd only just met her and that was hardly enough time to judge a person.

When they all started mounting their horses, Bella looked at her pony, and noted that it even though it was a small pony; it was still a bit too big. As she contemplated how she was going to get on, a hand gently touched her shoulder, causing her to look up at the figure next to her. It was Fili. "Would you like a hand getting up there?" he asked her with a grin.

A small blush crept up her neck as she gave a small smile back. "Thank you," she replied, as she took his hand and he helped hoist her up into the saddle. Once on her pony, she maneuvered herself so that she was sitting comfortably side saddle. Looking over, she caught Thorin watching her as Fili helped her onto her pony with a dark expression. Bella turned away, and smiled thankfully at Fili before he went and jumped onto his own pony.

That's how they all came to start, jogging off from the inn one fine morning just before May, on laden ponies. They had not been riding very long, when up came Gandalf very splendid on a white horse. He had rode next to Bella for a short while and informed her that he had locked up her house so that no one would enter it while she was away, for which she thanked him for.

Throughout the day, the dwarves chatted amongst themselves, telling stories and singing tunes. Bella felt a bit excluded, since no one would talk with her for very long, but she didn't blame them. Men during these times were not used to traveling with a woman. The only two to actually sit back and have a conversation with her were Fili and Kili. Occasionally they stopped for meals, but spent most of the day riding.

At first they had passed through hobbit-lands, a wide respectable country inhabited by decent folk, with good roads, an inn or two, and now and then a dwarf or a farmer ambling by on business. Then they came to lands where people spoke strangely, and sang songs Bella had never heard of before. Now they had gone far into the Lone-lands, where there were no people left, no inns, and the roads grew steadily worse. Not far ahead were dreary hills, rising higher and higher, dark with trees. On some of them were old, evil-looking castles, as if they had been built and inhabited by wicked people. Everything seemed gloomy, for the weather that day had taken a nasty turn. It was cold and wet, and Bella shivered in her dress, but she hid it as best she could.

Throughout the next almost month of travelling, the dwarves ignored her, never conversing with her (except for occasionally Fili and Kili).It was very lonely, and Bella was beginning to feel a bit depressed because of all the isolation, but she still preferred this over being alone in her hobbit hole. Although the pouring rain did give her pause.

Gandalf eventually disappeared from their group, and they were forced to trudge on. On this particular day, the winds were strong and the rain was heavy, pelting down upon them with force. Thorin muttered something about supper, "and where shall we get a dry patch to sleep on?"

They decided in the end that they would have to camp where they were. They moved to a clump of trees, and thought it would be a bit drier. Instead, the wind blew the rain off the leaves, making an annoying drip, drip. That night, not even the dwarves were able to light a fire. At one point, one of the ponies (Bella's to be exact) spooked and took off into the river before they could catch him. Bella had hiked up her skirts and trudged into the water before anyone else could say anything, and eventually came back out again, nearly drowned. Shaking off the water, she tied her pony next to the others and sat by a tree, shaking from the cold.

She changed into her leggings and shirt, pulling on her coat and cloak, but she could still not get warm. A few of the dwarves looked at her with pity as she sat there shivering on the ground, but they were all wet from the rain too, so there was nothing they could do. It wasn't until she let out a small sneeze that something heavy and _warm_ fell onto her shoulders. Startled, Bella glanced up and was shocked to see that Thorin had placed his cloak over her. "You'll catch your death out here," he said bluntly, not even looking at her.

"Thank you," she murmured softly as she pulled the cloak around her, reveling in its warmth.

"This is why you shouldn't have come; you're not built to handle the extremes that we are no doubt going to face," he snapped, storming away before she could say anything. Angrily, she shut her eyes and smacked the back of her head against the tree. The pain turned her attention away from Thorin. Eventually, she began to doze off.

It wasn't long before she was awoken to the sound of Balin's voice shouting: "There's a light over there!" Standing up, Bella glanced where the old dwarf was pointing. There was a hill some way off with trees on it, pretty thick in parts. Out of the dark mass of the trees they could now see a light shining, a reddish comfortable-looking light, as if it might be a fire or torches twinkling.

When they had looked at it for some while, they fell to arguing. Some said "no" and some said "yes". They snapped back at each other, coming up with various reasons as why they should or shouldn't go. Bella just sat back and watched them argue it out until Oin and Gloin began to fight.

That settled it. "Enough!" she snapped. "Stop acting like children. I am here to be a burgler, correct? We will move to the bottom of the hill, and I will sneak up to see what the source is of that light."

Several argued, but Thorin raised a hand to silence them. "Very well, it is after all your purpose." And that was that. They moved the ponies and bags in the direction of the light, and stopped once at the bottom of the hill. "Figure out what it is, and if you can come back if you can. If you can't, hoot twice like a barn owl and we will do what we can."

Off Bella went, not telling them that she had no idea what a barn owl sounded like. But at any rate, Hobbits can move quietly through the woods, and they take pride in it. Since she could walk quietly, she was able to walk straight up to the fire – for fire it was – without disturbing anyone. And this is what she saw.

Three very large trolls were sitting round a very large fire of beech-logs. They were toasting mutton on long spits of wood, and licking the gravy off their fingers. There was a fine toothsome smell. Also there was a barrel of good drink at hand, and they were drinking out of jugs. Even Bella, in her sheltered life, could see that they were trolls: from the great heavy faces, their size, and their language.

"Mutton yesterday, mutton today, and blimey, if it don't look like mutton again tomorrer," said one of the trolls.

"Never a blinking bit of manflesh have we had for long enough," said a second. "What the 'ell William was a- thinkin' of to bring us into these parts at all, beats me – and the drink runnin' short, what's more," he said jogging the elbow of William, who was taking a pull at his jug.

William choked. "Shut yet mouth!" he said as soon as he could. "Yer can't expect folk to stop here for ever just to be et by you and Bert. You've et a village and a half between yer, since we come down from the mountains. How much more d'yer want? And time's been up our way, when yer'd have said 'thank yer Bill' for a nice bit o' fat valley mutton like what this is." He took a big bite off a sheep's leg he was roasting, and wiped his lips on his sleeve.

Bella knew that she should head back to the company, but she also knew that trolls kept loot in their pockets, and what time of burgler was she if she couldn't rob them of their valuables? She silently crept behind a tree just behind William. Bella put her little hand in William's enormous pocket and found a purse, which was bigger than she was! Trolls' purses are the mischief, and this was no exception. "'Ere, 'oo are you?" it squeaked, as it left the pocket; and William turned round at once and grabbed Bella by the neck, before she could duck behind a tree.

"Blimey, Bert, look what I've copped!" said William.

"What is it?" said the others coming up.

"Lumme, if I knows! What are yer?"

"Bella Baggins, a hobbit!" she snapped, frustrated that she had been captured. Fear ran over her skin at the sudden thought that Thorin probably had abandoned her, and the company could be on their way elsewhere by now.

"A hobbit?" said they a bit startled. Trolls are slow in the uptake, and might suspicious about anything new to them.

"What's a hobbit got to do with my pocket, anyways?" said William.

"And can yet cook 'em?" said Tom.

"Yer can try," said Bert, picking up a skewer.

"She wouldn't make above a mouthful," said William, who had already had a fine supper, "not when she was skinned and boned."

"P'raps there are more like her round about, and we might make a pie," said Bert. "Here you, are there any more of your sort a-sneakin' in these here woods, yer nasty little rabbit," said he looking at the Bella, grabbing her by the legs and shaking her. Using her hands, she kept her skirt from falling while she was upside down.

"Not a single one! Why on earth would I have left companions to come looking for a place to rest? It's only little ol' me," Bella said, not wanting to give away the company.

"Let the poor blighter go," William said. He had already had as much supper as he could hold; also he had lots of beer. As soon as he said this, Bella reared back her head (as much as she could upside down) and screamed at the top of her lungs. Startled, the troll holding her dropped her, and she hit the ground hard. The air left her body at the impact, and she lay there dazed for a moment, before Bert reached down and grabbed her in a fierce grip, shaking her profusely.

"Whad'ya do that for?" he snapped at her. "Ain't no one gonna hear you round 'ere!" As soon as the sentence was out of his mouth, a battle cry sounded from within the dark forest, before the company appeared running towards them with weapons drawn.

"She lied!" Tom said, snarling at the oncoming dwarves before he grabbed Bella's left arm and left leg, while Bert held her other arm and leg. At the sight of this, the dwarves all stopped, staring at her with mixed expressions. Fili and Kili, along with Bofur, Balin, Bombur, Nori and Ori looked concerned, the others were expressionless, and Thorin looked angry!

"Drop yer weapons!" William said with a snarl. "Or she'll be ripped apart."

Bella was shocked when Thorin began to lower his sword, along with the rest of the company. "NO!" she shouted fiercely, startling everyone. "Don't drop your weapons!"

Turning her head, she bit as hard as she could into the hand of Bert, causing him to roar out. The two trolls pulled on her limbs roughly, causing a scream of anguish to pass through her lips. Her scream, plus her squirming was enough for them to drop her, and she once again hit the ground hard. Once she had her bearings (which took only a few seconds) she scrambled away from the trolls and the dwarves charging them, backing into the trees. Pain filled her body and mind at having her limbs nearly torn from their sockets, and from having hit the ground twice from quite a height.

Still, Bella watched the battle, making sure that no one got hurt. It didn't take very long before they had slain one of the trolls, the other two soon following the first into death. As she sat there witnessing Thorin slay the final troll before the dwarves began to look around for her in a mild panic, Bella carefully stood up. Walking over (or more like limping) she went back into the clearing. "Are any of you hurt?" she asked, glancing over all of them for injuries. She thanked any higher power that existed when she saw that none of the company had been hurt, except for herself.

"No, but you have been," Thorin said in a gruff voice as he approached her. When he laid a hand on her shoulder, she cringed away at the flash of pain. "Oin! Is there anything that can be done?"

Oin shook his head. "No, an injury as such will just need time to heal. Though it probably won't take more than a few days at most."

The company went to sit by the fire that the trolls had lit, welcoming the heat. Bella, however, sat further away, a bit embarrassed to be with the company. As she sat against the tree, the dull ache in her limbs did nothing to ease her mind. After a few moments, Thorin came to sit next to her. Before he could speak, she said: "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get myself captured."

Thorin shook his head. "Don't blame yourself for this. I allowed you to go check out the light, knowing very well that it might be something dangerous. I apologize for my thoughtlessness. None of the other dwarves blame you either, and we were _all _concerned when we heard you scream."

"Thank you, Thorin," she said softly as she looked up into his icy blue orbs. Her heart leapt in her chest, beating wildly.

"You should get some rest. We will be heading out in the morning," he murmured as he handed her his cloak again.

"Won't you need this?" she asked, fighting her eyelids to stay awake. Thorin simply shook his head before walking off. Wrapping the fur lined cloak around herself, she fell into a peaceful slumber.

When Bella woke next, it was because of a huge commotion happening within the company. Looking up from her place against the tree roots, she spotted Gandalf surrounded by all the dwarves. She stood up quickly, regretting it instantly at the sharp pain that ran through her body from the injuries she'd received the day prior. After taking a few deep breaths, she deposited Thorin's cloak by his bag, before walking to a few feet away from the gathering.

"Where did you go to, if I may ask?" said Thorin to Gandalf.

"To look ahead," Gandalf said with a twinkle in his eyes.

"And what brought you back?"

"Looking behind, I spotted a fire in the distance, and yet here I arrive to see a bunch of slain trolls and an injured Bella. I can only guess as to what had happened," said the old wizard. Bella blushed slightly, but it faded when Gandalf and a few of the dwarves smiled at her. The wizard held out his hand and handed her a few green leaves. "They'll take the pain away."

Gingerly, she placed them in her mouth, chewing them up and swallowing them. Almost instantly, she felt the pain recede and let out a content sigh. "Thank you Gandalf," she said, nodding her thanks.

Suddenly, Bella remembered something! The stuff from the pockets. Limping over, with several of the dwarves hovering behind her in case she fell over, she retrieved the gigantic purse. There wasn't much useful inside of it except a large key. They searched about and soon found marks of trolls' stony boots going away through the trees. They followed the tracks up the hill, until hidden by bushes they came on a big stone door leading into a cave. They used the key, and the great door swung back with a big push.

There were bones on the floor and nasty smell was in the air; but there was a good deal of food jumbled carelessly on the shelves and on the ground, among an untidy litter of plunder, of all sorts from brass buttons to pots full of gold coins standing in a corner. There were lots of clothes, too hanging on the walls – too small for trolls, probably having belonged to victims – and among them were several swords of various makes, shapes, and sizes. Two caught their eyes particularly, because of their beautiful scabbards and jeweled hilts.

Gandalf and Thorin took one each; Bella took a small sword (almost a dagger in large man's perspective) in a leather sheath.

"These look like good blades," said the wizard, half drawing them and looking at them curiously. "They were not made by any troll, nor by any smith among men in these parts and days; but when we can read the runes on them, we shall know more about them."

"Let's get out of this horrible smell!" said Fili. So they carried out the pots of coins and food that looked fit to eat.

"Come, we must head out to Rivendell now," Gandalf said, turning to the ponies and his horse. He mounted his white steed, and as the dwarves mounted their ponies, Thorin turned to Bella.

"Here," he said in what could be considered a gentle voice. "Allow me to help you on." Thorin, unlike the others who've helped her onto her horse, simply picked her up gently and placed her on her ponies back. A deep blush filled her cheeks.

"T-Thank you," Bella said, but softly grabbed his shoulder when he turned to go to his pony. When he turned to look at her, her insides turned to jelly, but her question still ragged in her mind. "Last night… would you really have dropped you weapons?"

Thorin looked shocked, but he nodded all the same before mounting his pony. Then they were off, heading toward this Rivendell that Gandalf spoke of.


	3. The Valley

Chapter 3: The Valley

They did not sing or tell stories that day, even though the weather improved; nor the next day, nor the day after. They had begun to feel that danger was not far away on either side. They camped under the stars, and their horses had more to eat than they had; for there was plenty of grass, but there was not much in their bags, even with what they had got from the trolls. One morning they forded a river at a wide shallow place full of the noise of stones and foam. The far bank was steep and slippery. When they got to the top of it, leading their ponies, they saw that the great mountains had marched down very near them. Already they seemed only a day's easy journey from the feet of the nearest. Dark and drear it look, though there were patches of sunlight on its brown sides, and behind its shoulders the tips of snow-peaks gleamed.

"Is that _The _Mountain?" Bella asked, though she truly doubted it was. She didn't think the trip to the mountain was possibly going to be this easy.

"Of course not!" Balin said, proving her doubtfulness to be true. "That is only the beginning of the Misty Mountains, and we have got to get through, or over, or under those somehow, before we can come into Wilderland beyond. And it is a deal of a way even from the other side of them to the Lonely Mountain in the East where Smaug lies on our treasure."

After a long while, it was Gandalf who led the way. "We must not miss the road, or we shall be done for," he said. "We need food, for one thing, and rest in reasonable safety – also it is very necessary to tackle the Misty Mountains by the proper path, or else you will get lost in them, and have to come back and start at the beginning again (if you ever get back at all)."

"So where exactly are we headed for?" asked Kili from atop his pony.

"You are come to the very edge of the Wild, as some of you may know. Hidden somewhere ahead of us is the fair valley of Rivendell where Elrond lives in the Last Homely House. I sent a message by my friends, and we are expected."

That sounded nice and all to Bella, but they had not got there yet, and it was not so easy as it sounds to find the Last Homely House west of the Mountains. There seemed to be no trees and no valleys and no hills to break the ground in front of them, only one vast slope going slowly up to meet the feet of the nearest mountain, a wide land the color of heather and crumbling rock, with patches and slashes of green grass showing where water might be.

Morning passed, afternoon came; but in all the silent waster there was no sign of any dwelling. They were growing anxious, for they saw now that the house might be hidden almost anywhere between them and the mountains. They came on unexpected valleys, narrow with steep sides that opened suddenly at their feet and they looked down surprised to see trees below them and running water at the bottom. There were gullies that they could almost leap over, but very deep waterfalls in them. There were dark ravines that one could neither jump over nor climb into.

For a long time they travelled down a white stone path, and Bella grew bored as they past field upon field of flowers. Eventually they entered the woods and the light began to dim as the sun set. Bella's pony began to trip and stumble over the roots until finally her pony smashed into the earth, sending her flying over its head. As she hit the ground, she let out a gasp as she landed on roots. None of the dwarves noticed since she was a bit further behind. Standing up with a wince (knowing she'd receive bruises from that tumble) she decided to walk on foot and lead her pony the rest of the way.

After a long while, they came to a cliff edge. "Here it is at last!" he called, and the others began to gather around him. They saw a valley far below and could hear the voice of hurrying water in a rocky bed at the bottom. The scent of trees was in the air; and there was a light on the valley-side across the water. It was then that Ori noticed Bella wasn't on her pony.

"What are you doing off of you pony, Bella?" Ori said, looking at her strangely. All the dwarves heads turned and took note of a few small scratched along her face and dirt on her clothes.

Blushing a bit, she said: "My poor pony is closer to the ground then yours, and she was tripping on all the roots until she finally fell over and unseated me. I'm just going to lead her for the rest of the way."

Some of the dwarves snickered at this, but Thorin silenced them with a glare. "Are you hurt?"

Bella shook her head. "No, just a little bruising."

Gandalf looked between them quizzically with a twinkle igniting in his eyes. "I'm afraid my dear Bella that you cannot walk to Rivendell on your own. We must go down this here path and it is too steep for any of us. Horses are required to maneuver safely down."

"She may ride with me," Thorin said, dismounting from his pony before anyone could say anything. He approached her, purposely avoiding her questioning glance, as he tied her pony to the back of his, before mounting his steed. Finally looking down at her with his icy blue eyes, he held out a hand to help swing her on to the back of the saddle. Placing her tiny hand in his warm one, she reveled at the contact as he swung her up into the saddle behind him. When she was firmly seated behind him, they all set out down the slopes. It didn't escape her attention that many of the dwarves sent questioning looks at the dwarf king, nor did she miss the sly, knowing smiles that Fili and Kili wore.

A question popped into her mind, and she knew that she had to ask it. "Why are you being so nice to me all of a sudden? I thought you hated me."

Thorin stiffened slightly, before he let out a sigh. "I – uh – apologize for my behavior during the beginning of the journey. You might say that I was concerned about having you come along, not knowing who you were, and the fact that you are a woman. I underestimated you greatly, and I saw that during the bravery you showed when captured by the dwarves."

Bella was shocked, and was silent for a few moments. "So does this mean things will be different from now on?"

A slight chuckle escaped from Thorin. "Oh yes. The other dwarves are excited to finally get to welcome you as officially apart of the company."

They came to a particularly steep part of the path, and the ponies simply slid down for a couple of seconds. When that happened, Bella reached out and wrapped around Thorin, scared to fall off the pony and off the cliff. Another laugh came from him, which entranced Bella. She loved the sound of his laugh, deep and beautiful. She wanted him to laugh more. "You better hang on," he said as the pony continued to slide down the steep part of the path.

"Ha ha," she said sarcastically, but hung on none the less. Secretly, she loved the feeling of having her arms wrapped around him, and his warmth pressed up against her. It was at this moment that she realized she was falling in love with the King under the Mountain.

Eventually they hear a song being sung in the distance:

O! What are you doing,  
And where are you going?  
Your ponies need shoeing!  
The river is flowing!  
O! tra-la-la-lally  
here down in the valley!

O! What are you seeking,  
And where are you making?  
The faggots are reeking,  
The bannocks are baking!  
O! tril-lil-lil-lolly  
the valley is jolly,  
ha! ha!

O! Where are you going  
With beards all a-wagging?  
No knowing, no knowing  
What brings Misses Baggins,  
And Balin and Dwalin  
down into the valley  
in June  
ha! ha!

O! Will you be staying,  
Or will you be flying?  
Your ponies are straying!  
The daylight is dying!  
To fly would be folly,  
To stay would be jolly  
And listen and hark  
Till the end of the dark  
to our tune  
ha! ha!

Soon they caught glimpses of the elves. Bella had met an elf or two before, but very seldom. Dwarves don't get on well with them. Even decent enough dwarves like the company think them foolish, or get annoyed with them. For some elves tease them and laugh at them, and most of all at their beards.

"Well, well!" said a voice. "Just look! Bella the hobbit on a pony, my dear! Isn't it delicious!"

"Most astonishing wonderful!"

Then off they went into another song as ridiculous as the one prior. At last, a tall young fellow came out from the trees and bowed to Gandalf and to Thorin.

"Welcome to the valley!" he said.

"Thank you," Thorin said, albeit gruffly. Gandalf was already off his horse and among the elves, talking merrily with them.

"You are a little out of the way," said the elf, "that is, if you are making for the only path across the water and to the house beyond. We will set you right, but you had best get on foot, until you are over the bridge. Are you going to stay a bit and sing with us, or will you go straight on? Supper is preparing over there," he said. I can smell the wood-fires for the cooking."

Tired as she was, Bella wouldn't have minded staying for a while. Elvish singing is not a thing to miss, in June under the stars, not if you care for such things. Also she would have liked to have a few private words with these people that seemed to know her name and all about her, although she had never seen them before. She thought their opinion of her adventure might be interesting. Elves know a lot and are wondrous folk for news, and know what is going among the peoples of the land, as quick as water flows, or quicker.

But the dwarves were all for supper as soon as possible just then, and would not stay. On they all went, leading their ponies, till they were brought to a good path and so at last to the very brink of the river. It was flowing fast and noisily, as mountain-streams do a summer evening, when sun has been all day on the snow far above. There was only a narrow bridge of stone without a parapet, as narrow as a pony could well walk on; and over they had to go, slow and careful, one by one, each leading his (or her) pony by the bridle. The elves had brought bright lanterns to the shore, and they sang a merry song as the party went across.

At last they all came to the Last Homely House, and found its doors flung wide.

Now it is a strange thing, but things that are good to have and days that are good to spend are soon told about, and not much to listen to; while things that are uncomfortable, palpitating, and even gruesome, may make a good tale, and take a deal of telling anyway. They stayed long in that good house, fourteen days at least, and they found it hard to leave. Bella didn't get to speak with Thorin much at all during their stay, and she was eager to once again be on the road.

The master of the house was an elf-friend – one of those people whose fathers came into the strange stories before the beginning of history, the wars of the evil goblins and the elves and the first men in the North. In those days of our tale there were still some people who had been both elves and heroes of the North for ancestors, and Elrond the master of the house was their chief.

He was as noble and as fair in face as an elf-lord, as strong as a warrior, as wise as a wizard, as venerable as a king of dwarves, and as kind as summer. He comes into many tales, but in this adventure his importance is only small. His house was perfect, whether you liked food, or sleep, or work, or story-telling, or singing, or just sitting and thinking beset, or a pleasant mixture of them all. Evil things did not come into that valley.

All of the company (even the ponies) grew refreshed and strong in just a few days there. Their clothes were mended, as well as their bruises, their tempers and their hopes. Their bags were filled with food and provisions light to carry. Their plans were improved with the best advice. So the time came to Midsummer Eve, and they were to go on again with the early sun on midsummer morning.

Elrond knew all about runes of every kind. That day he looked at the swords they had brought from the troll's lair, and he said: "These are no troll-make. They are old sword, very old swords of the High Elves of the West, my kin. They were made in Gondolin for Goblin-wars. They must have come from a dragon's hoard or goblin plunder, for dragons and goblins destroyed that city many ages ago. This, Thorin, the runes name Orcrist, the Goblin-cleaver in the ancient tongue of Gondolin; it was a famous blade. This, Gandalf, was Glamdring, Foe-hammer that the king of Gondolin once wore. Keep them well!"

"Whence did the trolls get them, I wonder?" said Thorin, looking at his sword with new interest.

"I could not say," said Elrond, "but one may guess that your trolls had plundered other plunderers, or come on the remnants of old robberies in some hold in the mountains. I have heard that there are still forgotten treasures of old to be found in the deserted caverns of the mines of Moria, since the dwarf and goblin war."

Thorin pondered these words. "I will keep this sword in honor," he said. "May it soon cleave goblins once again."

"A wish that is likely to be granted soon enough in the mountains!" said Elrond. "But show me now your map!"

He took it and gazed long at it, and he shook his head; for if he did not altogether approve of dwarves and their love for gold, he hated dragons and their cruel wickedness, and he grieved to remember the ruin of the town of Dale and its merry bells, and the burned banks of the bright River Running. The moon was shining in a bright crescent. He held up the map and the white light shone through it. "What is this?" he said. "There are moon-letters here beside the plain ruins which say 'five feet high the door and three may walk abreast.'"

"What are moon-letters?" Bella asked, intrigued since she had never heard of them before.

"Moon-letters are rune-letters, but you cannot see them," said Elrond, "not when you look straight at them. They can only be seen when the moon shines behind them, and what is more, with the more cunning sort it must be a moon of the same shape and season as the day when they were written. The dwarves invented them and wrote them with silver pens, as your friends could tell you. These must have been written on a Midsummer's Eve in a crescent moon a long while ago."

"What do they say?" asked Gandalf and Thorin together, a bit vexed perhaps that even Elrond should have found this out first, though really there had not been a chance before, and there would not have been another until goodness knows when.

"Stand by the grey stone when the thrush knocks," read Elrond, "and the setting sun with the last light of Durin's Day will shine upon the key hole."

"Durin!" said Thorin. "He was the father of the fathers of the eldest race of Dwarves, the Longbeards, and my first ancestor: I am his heir. Durin's Day is the first day of the dwarves' New Year. It is the last moon of Autumn on the threshold of Winter. But this will not help us much, I fear, for it passes our skill in these days to guess when such a time will come again."

"That remains to be seen," said Gandalf. "Is there any more writing?"

"None to be seen by this moon," said Elrond, and he gave the map back to Thorin; and they went down to the water to see the elves dance and sing upon the Midsummer's Ever.

The next morning they set out, each atop their own ponies as they rode away. The sky was a beautiful blue without a cloud, and the sun danced along the water. Now they rode away amid songs of farewell and good speed, with their hearts ready for more adventure, and with knowledge of the road they must follow over the Misty Mountains to the land beyond.


	4. In the Heart of the Mountain

Chapter 4: In the Heart of the Mountain

There were many paths that led up into those mountains and many passes over them. But most of the paths were cheats and deceptions and led nowhere or to bad ends; and most of the passes were infested by evil things and dreadful dangers. The dwarves and the hobbit, helped by the wise advice of Elrond and the knowledge and memory of Gandalf, took the right road to the right pass.

Long days after they had climbed out of the valley and left the Last Homely House miles behind, they were still going up and up and up. It was a hard and dangerous path, a crooked way and a lonely and long. Now they could look back over the lands they had left, laid out behind them far below. Bella had ridden her own pony of the path, no longer needing to worry about her pony tripping and sending her flying off. However, she'd be lying if she said she didn't miss riding with Thorin.

She shivered. It was getting bitter cold up here, and the wind cam shrill among the rocks. Bella didn't let on that she was cold though, because she knew that if any one offered her their cloak, then they would be cold.

At times, boulders would come galloping down the mountainside, let loose by mid-day sun upon the snow, and passed among them and over their heads. The nights were comfortless and chill, and quiet. Bella would huddle under her clothes to try to keep warm, and she forced herself to lay straight and still so it didn't look like she was cold. Even in her cold state, she could tell that the cloaks were the only things keeping the dwarves from being as cold as her. She should have brought more clothing.

All was well, until one day they met a fierce thunderstorm. Thunderstorms are terrible being low on the ground, but up high in the mountains at night, it seemed like the storms were at war. The lightning splinters on the peaks, and rocks shiver, and great crashes split the air and go rolling and tumbling into every cave and hollow; and the darkness is filled with overwhelming noise and sudden light.

There they were, sheltering under a hanging rock for the night, and Bella lay shivering under her cloak, shaking from head to toe. Glancing over, she spotted most of the dwarves huddled together for warmth. Gandalf sat on watch, and Thorin was sitting next to him as they conversed. As Bella pretended to be asleep when she spot them glance over, and heard Gandalf mutter something about "Bella" and "cold", she felt the familiar feeling of Thorin's cloak being draped over her cold form. The warmth was welcomed, and she faintly wondered why he kept offering her his cloak before she fell into a peaceful sleep.

Later in the night, they all awoke to the sound of wind ripping past, and rain and hail coming in every direction, pelting them harshly. They were all drenched, and their ponies stood with their heads down and tails clamped tightly between their legs. The sound of giants shouting came from what seems like all directions.

"This won't do at all!" said Thorin, having to yell over the rain. "If we don't get blown off, or drowned, or struck by lightning, we shall be picked up by some giant and kicked sky-high for a football!"

"Well, if you know of anywhere better, take us there!" said Gandalf, who was feeling rather grumpy himself.

The end of their argument was when Bella volunteered to look for better shelter, and was accompanied by Fili and Kili. In the heat of the argument, she had returned Thorin's cloak with a grateful look. Then the three set out, looking for shelter.

Carefully, the trudged on a ways until the found a small cave. "Bella! Kili!" said Fili. "Let's make sure there's nothing still living inside it!" They went inside and noted that it was large enough to hold all the dwarves, the ponies, and one hobbit, and one wizard, and that there appeared to be nothing living inside of it.

When they went back, the wind was coming in their direction. While Fili and Kili were strong enough to hold onto the rocks to keep from being blown backwards, Bella wasn't. As she got blown straight into the rock wall, she shouted "FILI! KILI! I can't follow in this wind! I'll stay in the cave!"

Nodding, the two brothers trudged onwards while Bella, who suddenly felt rather alone, went back inside the cave. She huddled in a corner and wrapped her arms around her legs. She stayed like that for quite some time before she heard the sound of shouts coming from outside the cave. "Please just be the company," she thought as she stood up.

Sure enough, the whole company squeezed into the cave, each leading their pony (or horse in Gandalf's case). Thorin was the last to come in, and she saw that he was leading both his pony and hers, and he had even placed all her belongings on the back of her pony. "Thank you," she said, blushing a little bit. She hoped he couldn't notice in the dim light.

"Think nothing of it," he replied as she took her ponies reins.

The cave was a fair size, and it had a dry floor. At one end there was room for the ponies where they ate happily in their nosebags. Oin and Gloin wanted to light a fire at the door to dry their clothes, but Gandalf would hear nothing of it. So they spread out their outer layers of their wet clothing on the floor (not wanting to make poor Bella uncomfortable) and settled down for the night. The dwarves and Gandalf sat talking, and Bella just listened as the night drowned on, the steady beat of rain eventually lulling her to sleep.

A nightmare haunted her dreams, about the cave wall cracking open. Lurching up in her sleep, she saw that indeed, the cave wall in the back was opened up and the last of the ponies' tails disappeared into it. Of course, she gave a mighty yell.

Out jumped the goblins, big and ugly and many. There were at least six to each dwarf and two for Bella; and they were all grabbed and dragged through the crack kicking and yelling. But not Gandalf. Bella's yell had done that much good. It had wakened him up wide in a splintered second, and when goblins came to grab him, there was a terrific flash, a smell of gunpowder, and several fell over dead.

The crack closed with a snap, and Bella and the dwarves were on the wrong side of it! Where was Gandalf? Of that neither they nor the goblins had any idea, and the goblins did not wait to find out. They seized Bella and the dwarves and hurried them along. It was deep, deep, dark, such as only goblins that have taken to living in the heart of the mountains can see through. The passages were crossed and tangled in all directions, but the goblins knew their way. They continued to go down, and it was terribly stuffy. The goblins were very rough, and pinched unmercifully, and chuckled and laughed in their horrible stony voices.

Now there came a glimmer of red light before them. The goblins began to sing, or croak, keeping time with the flap of their flat feet on the stone, and shaking their prisoners as well. They were pushed into a room that was lit by a great red fire in the middle, and by torches lining the walls. It was packed full of goblins. They all laughed and stamped and clapped their hands, when the dwarves were pushed in. The ponies were already huddled in a corner, and their bags all lying broken open, and being rummaged by the goblins.

The ponies were never to be seen again after this day, and neither was Gandalf's horse. Goblins love to eat ponies, horses, and donkeys, and they're always hungry. However, for right now, the prisoners were only thinking of themselves. The goblins had chained their hands behind their backs and linked them all together in a line, and dragged them to the far end of the cavern with the little Bella tugging at the end of the row.

There in the shadows on a large flat stone sat a tremendous goblin with a huge head, and armed goblins were standing round him carrying axes and the bent swords that they use. "Who are these miserable persons?" said the Great Goblin.

"Dwarves, and this!" said one of the drivers, pulling Bella's chain so that she fell forward onto her knees. She heard a few of the dwarves make angry noises when they saw this, the loudest being Thorin. "We found them sheltering in our Front Porch!"

"What do you mean by it?" said the Great Goblin, turning to Thorin. "Up to no good, I'll warrant! Spying on the private business of my people, I guess! Thieves, I shouldn't be surprised to learn! Murderers and friends of Elves, not unlikely! Come! What have you got to say?"

"Of the thing which you suspect," said Thorin, "and imagine we had no idea at all. We sheltered from a storm in what seemed a convenient cave and unused; nothing was further from our thoughts than inconveniencing goblins in any way whatever." Bella supposed this was true enough.

"So you say!" said the Great Goblin. "Might I ask what you were doing up in the mountains at all, and where you were coming from, and where you are going to? In fact I should like to know all about you. Not that it will do you much good Thorin Oakenshield, I know too much about your folk already."

"We were on a journey to visit our relatives who live on the East side of these truly hospitable mountains," said Thorin, not quite knowing what to say at all once in a moment, when obviously the exact truth would do no good at all.

"He is a liar, O truly tremendous one!" said one of the goblins. "Several of our people were stuck by lightning in the cave, when we invited these creatures to come below; and they are as dead as stones. Also he has not explained this!" He held out the sword which Thorin had worn, Orcrist.

The Great Goblin gave a truly horrendous howl of rage when he looked at it, and all his soldiers gnashed their teeth, clashed their shields, and stamped. They knew the sword at once. It had killed hundreds of goblins in its time, when the fair elves of Gondolin hunted them in the hills or did battle before their walls. They had called it Orcrist, Goblin-cleaver, but the goblins simply called it Biter. They hated it and hated worse any one that carried it.

"Murderers and elf friends!" the Great Goblin shouted. "Slash them! Beat them! Bite them! Gnash them! Take them away to dark holes full of snakes, and never let them see the light again!" He was in such a rage that he jumped off his seat and himself rushed at Thorin with his mouth open.

Just at that moment, all the lights in the cavern went out and a great fire went off into a tower of blue glowing smoke, right up to the roof that scattered piercing white sparks all along the goblins. Soon all the goblins were screaming and shouting as the sparks burnt holes in their flesh. They fell over, biting and kicking and fighting as if they had all gone mad.

Suddenly a sword flashed in its own light. Bella saw it go right through the Great Goblin as he stood dumbfounded in the middle of his rage. He fell dead, and the goblin soldiers fled before the sword shrieking into the darkness. The sword went back into its sheath. "Follow me quick!" said a voice fierce and quiet; and before Bella knew understood what had happened she was trotting along again at the end of the line, down more dark passages with the yells of the goblin hall growing fainter behind them. A pale light was leading them on. "Quicker, quicker! The torches will soon be relit!"

Bella could not run any faster, but Fili, a rather decent fellow, scooped Bella up as best as he could with his hands tied, and then off they all went at a run, with a clink-clink of chains, and many a stumble, since they had no hands to steady themselves with. Not for a long while did they stop, and by that time they must have been right down in the very mountain's heart.

Then Gandalf lit up his wand. Of course it was Gandalf; but just then they were too busy to ask how he got there. He took out his sword again, and again it flashed it the dark by itself. It burned with a rage that made it gleam if goblins were about; now it was bright as blue flame for delight in the killing of the great lord of the cave. It made no trouble whatever of cutting through the goblin chains and setting all the prisoners free as quickly as possible. Thorin had also managed to save Orcrist amongst the chaos.

"Are we all here?" said Gandalf. He quickly counted them out and was pleased to see that they were all here. "Well, well! It might be worse, and then again it might be a good deal better. No ponies and no food, and no knowing quite where we are, and hordes of angry goblins just behind! On we go!"

They took off at a run, having heard the cries of goblins coming from the passage they had just escaped. Bella pushed as hard as she possibly could to keep up with the running dwarves, but she was not built to keep up with their long strides. Yet, she managed to stay somewhat near the group, but she was falling behind, and the dwarves were too busy running through the dark to notice. Thus, that was why she was surprised when Thorin called out for her: "Where's the hobbit?"

"I'm back here!" she panted. The nearest dwarf was more than a few yards in front of her, and she was slowing. Suddenly, Thorin was next to her, and in one quick movement had slung her onto his back and was off running again. Embarrassment clouded her mind. "I could have kept up you know."

Thorin just let out a slight chuckle, despite the circumstances, and ran up to the front of the group. Bella was shocked at the amount of speed this dwarf had, even though he was carrying her. The goblins were getting closer, their angry cries and slap of their feet against the stone was getting louder. After a moment, Gandalf and Thorin slowed. "Draw your sword Thorin!"

Carefully, Thorin deposited Bella onto her feet. "Run!" he told her. She didn't argue. Turning tail, she ran, making sure that he was right behind her. As they rounded a corner, they were stopped by goblins that had appeared. The light of Orcrist and Glamdring caused the ones in the front to drop their torches before they were killed quickly. In the scuffle, Bella was knocked over and smashed her head against a rock, and remembered nothing more.


	5. Within the Mountain

**Author's Note: Thanks for reading! This chapter is very short, but I really don't like this scene with Gollum. I don't like his character, so I didn't include much of him. Sorry folks, but I couldn't bring myself to write much about this scene...**

Chapter 5: Within the Mountain

When Bella opened her eyes, she wondered if she had; for it was just as dark with them shut. No one was anywhere near him. She could hear nothing, see nothing, and felt only the stone floor beneath her. Dried blood was stuck to the side of her face, and she suddenly remembered falling from that small cliff. The dwarves! Where were they?! Did they escape?

Very slowly she got up and groped about on all fours, till she touched the wall of the tunnel; but neither up nor down could she find anything. Her head was swimming, and she was far from certain what direction she had been going when she fell. Crawling for a long time in a random direction, her hand suddenly met a tiny ring of cold metal lying on the floor of the tunnel. She put the ring in her pocket, ready to look at it if she ever got out of this blasted mountain alive, and kept moving for a while until she sat back to think.

Bella could not think of what to do; nor could she think about why the company never found her. Did the escape and abandon her? Or were the captured? Or worse… She suddenly thought of her sword and how Gandalf's and Thorin's had lit up when Goblins were near. Perhaps hers would too. She drew it out, and smiled when it shone pale and dim before her eyes.

"So it is an elvish blade too," she thought, "and goblins are not very near, and yet not far enough." Yet, despite this, she was comforted. It was rather splendid to be wearing a blade made in Gondolin for the goblin-wars of which so many songs had sung; and also he had noticed that such weapons made a great impression on goblins that came upon them suddenly. With new hope, Bella stood up and trotted down the stony tunnel, eager to find a way out of the blasted mountain.

The tunnel seemed to never end. It went straight down, and had twists and turns every couple of yards, and sometimes new passages would appear on the side, but Bella looked over these, intent on the path she was headed. After what seemed like over a day of traveling, Bella was shocked silly when she splashed into icy cold water. The sword was hardly shining here at all, so she couldn't tell if it was an underground stream, or came from a river flowing into the mountain.

"Bless us and splash us, my preciousss!" came a voice, startling her immensely. Jumping up, she held her blade in front of her. "I guess it's a choice feast; at least a tasty morsel it'd make us, Gollum!" When it said Gollum, it made a horrible swallowing noise in its throat.

"Who are you?" she said, eyes locking on a pair of gigantic pale ones.

"What iss he, my precious?" whispered Gollum.

"I am Ms. Bella Baggins. I have lost the dwarves and wizard I travel with, and I don't know where I am."

"What's he got in his handses?" said Gollum, looking at the sword.

"A sword," Bella said simply, not going into further detail.

"Praps," Gollum said, "ye sits here and chats with it a bitsy, my preciousss. It likes riddles, praps it does, does it?"

"I don't have time!" Bella said, throwing back her head. "I've got to find my way out of this cursed mountain!"

"It must have a competition with us, my preciousss! If precious asks, and it doesn't answer, we eats it. If it asks us, and we doesn't answer, then we does what it wants, eh? We shows it the way out, yes!"

Bella pretended to think for a moment (she was quite terrible at riddles), and snatched Gollum by the back of his neck and pointed her sword at its throat. The thing threatened to eat her; she was not going to entertain it. "How about," she said, "you tell me the way out, and I'll let you live?"

At the blade poking its neck, Gollum looked at her fearfully. "Alright! Alright!"

So, the cursed creature began to tell her the directions to get out of the mountain. She listened closely and memorized his directions. When he finished, she thanked and released him. As she turned to leave, something hit her back hard and knocked her to the ground. The retched creature had tackled her! Rolling over, she smashed him in the face with a rock she picked up off of the ground.

Stunning the thing, she stood up and scrambled away from it, holding her sword out in front of her. Gollum began to hiss and mutter nonsense, but Bella tuned it out as he suddenly lunged at her again. Teeth snapping, he bit her shoulder and drew blood, causing her to let out a scream as she bashed him over the head with the hilt of her sword. The creature dropped to the floor unconscious.

Not wanting to wait around any longer, she turned and left the cavern, following the paths that the creature had told her, and she prayed he hadn't been lying. At the end of Gollum's directions, she was practically squealing with joy when she came to a door. Pushing it open with all her might, her face was greeted with warm sunshine. With a skip in her stride, she darted down the stairs and out of that blasted mountain.


	6. Binding Wounds and Bonding Friendships

Chapter 6: Binding Wounds and Bonding Friendships

Bella had escaped the mountain, but she did not know where she was. She had lost everything; her hood, cloak, food, provisions, pony, and her friends. She wandered on and on, till the sun began to sink westwards, behind the mountains.

"I seem to have made it to the other side of the Misty Mountains!" she exclaimed. "Where have Gandalf and the dwarves got to? Oh, I hope they aren't still in that mountain."

She wandered on, out of the little high valley, over its edge, and down the slopes beyond. After a while she sat down, and pulled out the ring from her pocket. It was a plain gold band, and it was rather small. Bella slipped it onto her finger, and admired the look of it. Walking over to a small river she glanced down to have a sip when she noticed something. There was no reflection in the water! "I'm invisible!" she gasped. Taking off the ring, she watched as her reflection appeared in the water.

Now she began to wonder if perhaps she should use the ring to go back into those horrible mountains and look for her friends. She had just made up her mind to do so when she heard voices. She stopped and listened. It did not sound like goblins, so Bella crept forward carefully. She was on a stony path downwards with a rocky wall on the left hand; on the other side the ground sloped away and there were dells below the level of the path overhung with bushes and low trees. In one of these dells under the bushes people were talking.

She crept nearer, and suddenly she saw peering between two big boulders a head with a red hood on it: Balin doing lookout! She could have clapped and shouted for joy, but she did not. She had slipped the ring back on, for fear of meeting something unexpected and unpleasant, and she saw Balin was looking straight at her without noticing her.

Wanting to surprise them, she edged closer until she could see Gandalf and all of the dwarves. They were discussing all that had happened to them in the tunnels, and wondering and debating what they were to do now. The dwarves were grumbling, and Gandalf was saying that they could not possibly go on with their journey leaving Ms. Baggins in the hands of the goblins, without trying to find out if she was alive or dead, and without trying to rescue her.

"After all she is my friend," said the wizard "and I know quite a few of you have grown fond of her. I feel responsible for her, and I wish to goodness that you hadn't lost her!"

"She has been more trouble than use so far," said Dwalin. "If we have got to go back now into those abominable tunnels to look for her, then drat her, I say."

Gandalf answered angrily. "I brought her, and I don't bring things that are of no use. Either you help me look for her, or I go and leave you here to get out of the mess as best you can yourselves. If we can only find her again, you will thank me before all is over. Whatever did you tell her to run off for Thorin?"

Thorin looked ashamed, and angry at Dwalin. "I did not know if we were going to be able to hold off the goblins, so I demanded she run ahead. I'll go with you to look for her."

Some of the dwarves looked shocked at this. "As will we!" said Kili, Fili, Balin immediately, and all of the others after a long moment. Even Dwalin conceded after the frightening glare Thorin sent him.

"There is no need for that," Bella said as she slipped off the ring and walked into view. Good gracious, how they all jumped! Every single one of them appeared shocked and delighted. Thorin and Gandalf looked the happiest, and when Thorin walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, she blushed very deeply.

"How?" was all the mighty king could stutter out, his hand still on her shoulder.

"Hobbits can be quite sneaky, you know," she said as she placed her hand over his. Before anyone could blink, he enveloped her in a huge hug. Gasps came from the crowd of dwarves. She gingerly wrapped her arms around him, her heart beating loudly in her chest from the contact.

After a moment, he released her and stepped back. "Good to have you back." Questions were suddenly thrown her way by everyone and she did her very best to answer all of them without mentioning the ring. At the end of her tale, it was Gandalf who spoke up.

"What did I tell you?" he chuckled. "Ms. Baggins has more about her than you guess." He gave Bella a queer look from under his bushy eyebrows, as he said this, and the hobbit wondered if he had guessed at the part she left out.

As Bella took a step forward and removed her outer cloak due to the heat, she heard Ori gasp. Everyone turned to look at her and she glanced down and gasped herself. The place where Gollum had bit her on her shoulder was seeping blood down her torso and it showed through her under shirt. Thorin carefully came over and pulled her shirt down enough to expose the wound, and she heard him inhale sharply. The bite would was deep and inflamed, obviously infected. Stepping back, Thorin's hand released her shirt. "It's nothing," she murmured. "Just a small bite."

"That's not nothing," Thorin said, his eyebrows furrowed. "It needs to be dressed before we head out. Come with me."

Too stunned to say much of anything, Bella followed obediently away from the silent dwarves and wizard, who watched them go with curious expressions. Once they were out of sight, Thorin placed down his pack and began to rummage through it. He paused for a moment to throw his cloak at her. "Take off your shirt and use this to cover your – uh – chest." Bella would have giggled at how flustered he was and how he couldn't look her in the eye, except for the fact that it was a very awkward situation.

Turning around so her back was facing him, she pulled off her shirts, being careful not to aggravate the wound. Pulling up his cloak, she held it against her chest. "You can come sit in front of me here," Thorin said in a strange voice, but Bella ignored it and sat down in front of him so that her injured shoulder was closest to him. She pulled all her hair over to her opposite shoulder so that it wouldn't get in the way.

"What creature did this?" Thorin asked as he took a wet rag and began to gently wash the wound. At first she jumped from the contact, but eased once he put his free hand on her uninjured shoulder to steady her. He did not remove his hand after.

"It was Gollum," she said, her brows furrowing. "What a retched creature that was! I hope to never encounter him again for the rest of my life!"

A small chuckle escaped Thorin. "This creature seems to bother you more than the goblins do." As he placed down the now filthy rag, he grabbed another one and handed it to her. When he saw her confused look, he said: "The infection has to come out of the wound somehow, so I'm going to try as gently as I can do get it out, but you may want to bite on that just in case."

Nodding her head and trying to keep the fear out of her eyes, she placed the cloth between her teeth. Thorin's hands gently pried the wound open a little bit, causing a bit of pain to flare until he pressed down slowly but firmly. White hot pain shot through her shoulder, and she let out a strangled whimper as her body automatically tried to move away. Clamping her jaws on the cloth, she felt a few tears of pain start to pool over her cheeks. Glancing down, she saw that pus and blood were beginning to pour from the wound.

It only lasted for a few minutes before Thorin stopped, moving his hand down to her mid back. "You did well," he said, as he grabbed a clean rag and wiped the pus and blood from her shoulder and arm.

"Sorry you had to do that," Bella said softly as she took the rag out of her mouth. A blush of embarrassment burned her cheeks as she turned away from Thorin.

"Don't apologize," he said in a slightly harsh voice. "You were injured and I'm helping you as I would do for any member of this company. Besides, it's my fault you were hurt."

A soft guffaw escaped her mouth. "Your fault? How do you suppose that?"

"I told you to run," he said as he dipped his fingers into a pot of some sort of thick substance. Lifting his hand up, he began to rub it onto the wound, and Bella sighed as the coolness of it soothed her heated flesh. "It was for me that this quest was started and that you were invited along."

Bella shook her head and locked her blue eyes on his. "You did not force me to come Thorin. I chose to. Under no circumstance did you ever take my will away from me. Even if I knew what would happen before I left, I would still be here." After a moment, she added: "Although I probably would have killed Gollum on sight if I knew that this was what that retched creature was going to do. I'll probably have one hell of an ugly scar after this."

Thorin quirked an eyebrow at the venom in her voice by her last sentence. "This ointment here will prevent scarring," he said, as he continued rubbing the substance into the wound. After a few moments, he wiped off his hands and grabbed the bandages. "Lift your arm for me, please."

Doing as he said, Bella lift her arm and watched as his hands expertly wrapped the bandage firmly around the wound. Once he was finished, he turned around so that she could change back into her shirt. Fully dressed, she turned to face Thorin. "I'm done," she said. When he turned around, she handed him back his cloak. "Thank you, for everything."

"You're very welcome, Bella," he murmured back, granting her a small rare smile. Her heart did a flying leap at the sound of her name coming from his lips. They walked back to the group in silence.

Once they returned, they saw the dwarves standing with all their gear. "We must be getting on at once," said Gandalf. "They will be out after us in hundreds when night comes on; and already shadows are lengthening. They can smell our footsteps for hours after we have passed. We must be miles on before dusk. There will be a bit of moor, if it keeps fine, and that is lucky. Not that they mind the moon much, but it gives us a little light to steer by."

So on they went. The rough path disappeared. The bushes, and long grasses between the boulders, the patches of rabbit-cropped turf, the thyme and the sage and the marjoram, and the yellow rockroses all vanished, and they found themselves at the top of a wide steep slope of fallen stones, the remains of a landslide. When they began to go down this, rubbish and small pebbles rolled away from their feet; soon larger bits of split stone went clattering down and started other pieces below them slithering and rolling; then lumps of rock were disturbed and bounced off, crashing down with a dust and a noise. Before long the whole slope above them and below them seemed on the move, and they were sliding away, huddled all together, in a fearful confusion of slipping, rattling, cracking slabs of stone.

It was the trees at the bottom that saved them. They slid into the edge of a climbing wood of pines that here stood right up the mountain slope from the deeper darker forests of the valleys below. The dwarves and Gandalf caught hold of the trunks and swung themselves into lower branches. Bella, of course, couldn't reach, but was grateful when a hand shot out and had pulled her up the tree. Thanking the person, she was shocked when she saw that it had been Dwalin.

Soon the danger was over, the slide had stopped, and the last faint crashes could be heard as the largest of the disturbed stones went bounding and spinning among the bracken and the pine roots far below.

"Well! That has got us on a bit," said Gandalf as he jumped from his place in the tree. As the dwarves jumped down, Bella was pleasantly surprised when Dwalin grabbed her waist and lowered her down to Thorin, who grabbed her carefully. Once on her feet, she thanked the two men and blushed. "Even goblins tracking us will have a job to come down her quietly."

"I daresay," grumbled Bombur; "but they won't find it difficult to send stones bouncing down on our heads."

"Nonsense!" Gandalf snapped. "We are going to turn aside here out of the path of the slide. We must be quick! Look at the light!"

The sun had long gone down the mountains. Already the shadows were deepening about them, though far away through the trees and over the black tops of those growing lower down they could still see the evening lights on the plains beyond. They limped along now as fast as they were able down the gentle slopes of a pine forest in a slanting path leading steadily southwards.

"Must we go any farther?" asked Bella grumpily after she walked into a tree for what seemed like the tenth time that night. It was so dark that she couldn't see her fingers when she waved them in front of her face.

"A bit further," said Gandalf.

After what seemed ages further they came suddenly to an opening where no trees grew. The moon was shining into the clearing. Somehow it struck all of them as not at all a nice place, although there was nothing wrong to see.

All of a sudden they heard a howl away down hill, a long shuddering howl. It was answered by another away to the right and a good deal nearer to them; then by another not far away on their left. It was wolves howling at the moon, wolves gathering together.


	7. Out of the Frying Pan into the Fire

Chapter 7: Out of the Frying Pan into the Fire

"Just fantastic!" Bella said. "Escaping goblins to be caught by wolves!"

"Up the trees quick!" cried Gandalf, and they ran to the trees at the edge of the glade, hunting for those that had branches fairly low, or were slender enough to swarm up. They found them as quick as ever they could and up they went as high as ever they could trust the braches. Fili and Kili were at the top of a tall larch like an enormous Christmas tree. Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, and Gloin were more comfortable in a huge pine with regular branches sticking out at intervals like spikes on a wheel. Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur had scrambled up into another, while Thorin and Dwalin climbed up into a tall slender fir. Gandalf, who was a good deal taller that the others, had found a tree into which they could not climb, a large pine standing at the very edge of the glade.

And Bella? The poor hobbit tried her best to find a tree she could climb, but the one she managed to climb was short, and she knew that she wasn't high enough to escape the wolves if they saw her, but it was too late now. Amongst the scramble, she caught Thorin and a few others gazing at her worriedly, and she realized that even they too knew that she was in too small of a tree. Her best hope now was that she could remain unnoticed.

At that moment the wolves trotted howling into the clearing. All of a sudden there were hundreds of eyes looking at them. The whole pack of them was yelping at the dwarves up in the trees, eyes blazing and tongues handing out. These wolves were called Wargs, and they cannot climb trees. For a time, they were safe. Luckily it was warm and not windy.

This glade in the ring of trees was evidently a meeting-place of the wolves. More and more kept coming in. They left guards at the foot of the trees. All except for Bella's because they had yet to notice the tiny shaking hobbit on the tiny tree. Many hours passed, but the Wargs still sat there, and Bella knew that they weren't going to leave any time soon.

Pulling the ring she'd found in the goblin's mountain out of her pocket, she twirled it around in her hand as a wicked idea popped into her head. As she thought about it, she realized that it might just work… or she could end up dead. After another long hour had passed and the moon was beginning to descend in the sky, she decided to put her plan into action.

Quietly (as quite as a hobbit could possibly be) she descended the tree and she forced herself to not glance at the dwarves who had seen her and were having panic attacks in their own respective trees. The Wargs were a good twenty to thirty yards away from her, so if she timed this just right… Glancing at Thorin's frightened and panicking eyes, she mouthed "I'm sorry," just in case this turned out horribly wrong.

As loudly as she could, she screamed "HELLO! OVER HERE!" At that second, every single Warg turned to look at her. Immediately their hackles were raised. "WHO WANTS SOME TASTY HOBBIT?"

Turning around, she ran as fast as she possibly could away from the clearing and into the trees. As soon as the dwarves could no longer see her, she slipped on her ring and vanished. Quietly, she glanced over her shoulder and saw that the entire pack of Wargs was chasing her. Pulling out her dagger, she began to fight. The Wargs were actually a funny sight, as they tried to figure out where she had gone, why they could smell her, and why some were dropping dead with their throats slit.

Nimbly, with the practice she had received from the others, she began to kill off as many Wargs as she could. Slashing, and stabbing she pierced the hides of many Wargs, and received a few scratches herself as the beasts pawed at the air, trying to figure out where she was. Bella was particularly satisfied when several turned tail and ran away. After slaying many, fatigue began to settle in her system from the lack of food and sleep from the past few days. Thankfully, it was at this moment she could hear many voice yelling her name and the war cries of the dwarves.

Glancing over, she spotted the dwarves and Gandalf running into the midst of the Warg pack with weapons raised and prepared to fight. Bella was shocked when she saw the look in Thorin's eyes. The king looked ravenous, rabid, angry, possessed; as if something very dear was swept away from him in one fell swoop. His eyes raked over the field, and sorrow sparked in them when there was nothing to see but Wargs. Although, perhaps a flicker of hope might have passed through his eyes when he took in the vast amount of Wargs lying dead upon the ground. Yet, despite this, the mighty dwarf joined the company in battle as they began slaying the beasts.

Bella leaned against a tree panting and trying to rest for a quick moment as she watched the dwarves skillfully kill the Wargs. Gandalf fought wonderfully aswell, using little bouts of magic to ignite a handful of them, or hacking off their heads with his sword Glamdring. Mostly her eyes watched Thorin though; protective in case she needed to move quickly. It was a good thing to, because as he was distracted with two of the monsters in front of him, he failed to notice a third stalking up behind him. Removing her ring and shoving it in her pocket, she ran out with a mighty cry and slammed her shoulder into the Warg, sending the beast and her sprawling across the forest floor in a tangle of skin and claws.

A part of her mind noticed that it had scratched her across the back, but most of her mind was focused on the fact that this thing had tried to kill Thorin, and would have more than likely succeeded without her intervention. Jumping to her feet with her sword in hand, she attacked the Warg and slashed her sword across its face, drawing blood as she made a gash under its left eye. Angry, the thing reared back and lurched at her, jaws snapping and spit flying. Dodging rather quickly, she reached up with her blade and stabbed it into the creature's shoulder.

The wound exploded with blood as Bella withdrew her sword, but the injury barely slowed the beast. It charged her again, ready to make the kill when a sword that wasn't her own stabbed it in the throat, silencing its dreadful noises. The Warg fell to the ground, still twitching as the life left its eyes. Looking at the sword, she knew who it belonged to immediately. As her eyes went up to look into Thorin's blue ones, she would have been content to stare into them forever if not for the giant talons that locked around her and the king, picking them up off of the ground and flying them into the air.

Shocked, she looked up and saw that it was a mighty eagle, and that the whole battlefield was filled with them as they scratched at the Wargs and picked up the dwarves and Gandalf. The eagle carried them high into the sky and away from the battle. The pale peaks of the mountains were coming nearer, moonlit spikes of rock sticking out of black shadows. Summer or not, it seemed very cold.

The flight ended quickly and they were placed gently down on a wide shelf of rock on the mountain-side. There was no path down on to it save by flying; and no path down off it except by jumping over a precipice. There Bella and Thorin saw all the others sitting with their backs to the mountain wall. The Lord of Eagles, a mighty creature that frightened Bella a bit, was also there talking with Gandalf.

As the wizard spoke with the Eagle, Thorin grabbed her arm gently and pulled her aside from everyone else, his eyes blazing. "You! What were you doing?" Bella suddenly felt very nervous at the tone of his voice and the anger she could sense building up inside of him, but she remained silent. "You nearly got yourself killed. Did I not say that you would be a burden? That you would not survive in the wild? That you, a hobbit and a woman, have no place amongst us?"

As each sentence was spoken, Bella could feel her heart being crushed little by little, and she looked away from Thorin. Thus, this was why she was shocked when she felt his hand gently cup her chin and tilt it so that she was facing him. "And I have never been so wrong in all my life," he said before he brought his lips down to press against hers.

It was a gentle kiss, but she loved the way he cupped her face as if she was a precious, fragile object. His lips were warm, and sent shots of electricity through her veins, which caused her heart to do flying leaps in her chest. When he pulled away, she opened her eyes and looked his icy blue ones, everything felt so wonderfully perfect. "I'm sorry I doubted you," he added, looking back at her with a silent question as to if he was fully forgiven.

"That's alright, Thorin," she murmured softly as she cupped his face this time. "I would have doubted me too." Then she pressed her lips against his, loving the feel of their bodies pressed flush up against one another. Lost in the moment, it wasn't until the dwarves started cat calling and whistling that she pulled away with a deep blush.

The day was spent around a fire as they dried off their clothes and mended each other's minor wounds and ate meat that the eagles had gathered for them. Bella loved listening to the other dwarves tease Thorin about his infatuation with her. (Oin especially since he knew from the moment Thorin had insisted to heal her wound when in fact; it was Oin who was most skilled in medicine.)

In the late afternoon when Bella was sitting against the wall with a full belly, Fili and Kili came to sit next to her with somewhat serious expressions of their faces. "Is it ok if we talk to you?" they asked, somewhat nervously.

"Of course!" she said, giving them a comforting smile which seemed to ease some of the tension from the two brothers.

The two were still kind of fidgety before Kili spoke. "I – I mean… we are glad that our uncle has finally found someone to trust his heart with, but we want to clarify some things with you."

"Dwarves mate once, and that's it," Fili said, somewhat awkwardly. "The fact that Thorin chose you, means that you are his One. Don't play with his heart… please."

Bella inhaled sharply and furrowed her eyebrows. "I return Thorin's affections just as strongly," she said, hoping they wouldn't repeat this to their uncle. "Don't take me so lightly as to think I could ever do something as vile as to mess with his affection."

The boys smiled at her fondly. "Also, he does have… slight… anger problems sometimes, as you've more than definitely seen. Just don't give up on him," Kili added.

She returned their smiles with a radiant one. "I don't intend to," she said softly as she turned to gaze fondly at Thorin, who was deep in conversation with Gandalf and the Lord of the Eagles. The brothers left her to her thoughts a few moments later, and it wasn't long before she fell asleep, dreaming of the man she had fallen in love with.


	8. Queer Lodgings

Chapter 8: Queer Lodgings

The next morning Bella woke up with the early sun in her eyes. She noticed that she felt strangely comfortable considering that she had fallen asleep against a rock wall. Sitting up, she saw that a thick cloak (Thorin's) had been placed over top of her, and her own cloak was bunched up under her head like a pillow. It was then that she remembered the events from yesterday, and a scarlet blush covered her cheeks.

That morning the company had cold mutton and rabbit before they had to get ready for the fresh start. The eagles had consented to bring them down off of the shelf they rested on. This time she was allowed to climb on to an eagle's back and cling between his wings. The air rushed over her and she shut her eyes. Gandalf and the dwarves were crying farewells and promising to repay the Lord of the Eagles if they ever could, as off rose fifteen great birds from the mountain's side. The sun was still close to the eastern edge of things. The morning was cool, and mists were in the valleys and hollows and twined here and there about the peaks and pinnacles of the hills. She saw that the birds were marvelously high up and the world was far away, and the mountains were falling back behind them into the distance.

After a long while the eagles began to slowly turn in circles, getting them lower and lower to the ground before depositing their passengers. "Farewell!" the eagles cried, "wherever you fare, till your eyries receive you at the journey's end!" That is the polite thing to say among eagles.

"May the wind under your wings bear you where the sun sails and the moon walks," answered Gandalf, who knew the correct reply. And so they parted.

There was a flat space on top of the hill of stone and a well-worn path with many steps leading down it to the river, across which a ford of huge flat stones led to the grass-land beyond the stream. There was a little cave (a wholesome one with a pebbly floor) at the foot of the steps and near the end of the stony ford. Here the party gathered and discussed what needed to be done.

"I always meant to see you all safe (if possible) over the mountains," said the wizard, "and now by good management and good luck I have done it. Indeed we are now a good deal further east than I ever meant to come with you, for after all this is not my adventure. I may look in on it again before it is all over, but in the meanwhile I have some other pressing business to attend to."

The dwarves groaned and looked a bit distressed, while Bella stared off in the distance with a stoic expression. She would miss having Gandalf around, and she couldn't help but feel that things might go wrong without him there to set it straight. "I am not going to disappear this very instant," said Gandalf. "I can give you a day or two more. Probably I can help you out of your present plight, and I need a little help myself. We have no food, no baggage, and no ponies to ride; and you don't know where you are. Now I can tell you that. You are still some miles north of the path which we should be following, if we had not left the mountain pass in a hurry. Very few people live in these parts, unless they have come here since I was last down this way, which was some years ago. But there is somebody that I know of, who lives not far away. That somebody made the steps on the great rock – the Carrock I believe he calls it. He does not come here often, certainly not in the daytime, and it is no good waiting for him. In fact it would be very dangerous. We must go and find him; and if all goes well at our meeting, I think I shall be off and wish you like the eagles 'farewell wherever you fare.'"

After that, they found a river where they decided it would be a nice place to have a bath. Of course, this was kind of awkward for Bella, since she had to wait until all the dwarves were out and at least partially dressed. As she sat with her back against a tree, footsteps approaching her caused her to look up. A small squeak _almost_ escaped her lips at the sight of a Thorin, who was shirtless and dressed only in his trousers. His hair was still wet and she tried to prevent her eyes from following the water droplets that dripped onto his fine chest, down his abs, and to the waistband of his pants.

Blushing, she met his eyes and quirked an eyebrow. "The water is free for you to go bathe now," he murmured softly before walking away, leaving Bella with a strange feeling. She figured that after yesterday's kiss he would be closer to her, but it seemed like he was distancing herself. Perhaps this was what Fili and Kili had been trying to warn her about. Deciding not to dwell on it, she pushed it out of her mind.

As she gathered up her clean pair of clothes, she walked over to the river and double checked that no one was watching. A bit surprised was she when she saw that Thorin was sitting near the river with his back against a rock so that she wouldn't be able to see him. He was guarding her! When she was satisfied that he wouldn't peak at her, she stripped down and sunk into the river. The cool water was welcoming as she scrubbed the grime and blood off of her with her nails. She left her shoulder wrapped from Gollum's bite (which had been rewrapped by Thorin on the eagle's shelf), but unwrapped the scratches that she had received from the Wargs. They had begun to scab over, so she wasn't too worried about leaving them uncovered.

Once she was satisfied that she was clean enough and her hair thoroughly scrubbed, she sat on a rock in a shallow part of the river so that only her neck up was visible and relished in the feeling of being clean. Eventually, she pried her pruned body out of the water and dried herself with the inside of her old clothes and dressed in her clean ones. Then she began to clean her dirty clothes against a rough rock in the water before laying them out in the sun to dry. Risking a glance over at Thorin, she was surprised when she saw that he had fallen asleep, basking in the golden sunlight.

Bella took this as an opportunity to admire him. She loved everything about him; from his long hair with the beautiful streaks of silver, his beard that had tickled her skin when they'd kissed, the terrifying muscle which coiled on his arms, and his long eyelashes, which covered his icy blue eyes. As she openly gawked, she nearly jumped out of her skin when a hand suddenly clamped over her mouth.

Eyes popping wide, she began to struggle until she heard the familiar chuckle of Fili and Kili and went still. Kili released his hold on her and gave her an amusing glance while she glared daggers at the two of them. "Hello Auntie!" they both said with huge grins.

That shocked her.

"A-Auntie?" She stuttered out, not quite believing what she had heard. "I-I don't…" She didn't know what to say.

"Well, you're going to be our Aunt pretty soon!" Fili said, smiling down at her.

A frown formed on her face as she looked over at Thorin. As much as she wished that he could be all hers… she had insecurities. "Your uncle… I don't believe that we'll ever… I mean, he couldn't ever want me to…" She was unable to form a single sentence but the two brothers understood what she had been trying to say.

Fili's smile dropped. "He does, he just doesn't quite understand what he's feeling yet. Give him time." She nodded and went to gather up her clothing, vaguely wondering if Thorin's nephews were trying to play matchmaker… Glancing over, she watched with amusement as Fili and Kili woke Thorin by dousing him with a pitcher of cold water, startling the large dwarf. She couldn't help but giggle when she watched him angrily storm after them shouting nonsense in Khuzdul. Oh how she wished she could understand what he was saying!

Soon they packed up and cross the ford, and then began to march through the long green grass and down the lines of the wide-armed oaks and tall elms. "The somebody I spoke of, when you meet him, you must all be very polite. I shall introduce you slowly, two by two, I think; and you must be careful not to annoy him, or heaven know what will happen. He can be appalling when he is angry, though he is kind enough if humored. Still I warn you he gets angry easily."

"Couldn't you find someone more easy-tempered?" one of the dwarves asked.

"No I could not!" Gandalf said. "If you must know more, his name is Beorn. He is very strong, and he is a skin-changer. He changes his skin, sometimes he is a huge black bear, and sometimes he is a great strong man with huge arms and a great beard. I cannot tell you much more, though that ought to be enough. Some say that he is a bear descended from the great and ancient bears of the mountains that lived there before the giants came. Others say that he is a man descended from the first men who lived before Smaug or the other dragons came into this part of the world, and before goblins came into the hills out of the north. I cannot say, though I fancy the last is the true tale. He is not the sort of person to ask questions of.

At any rate he is under no enchantment but his own. He lives in an oak-wood and has a great wooden house; and as a man he keeps cattle and horses which are nearly as marvelous as himself. They work for him and talk to him. He does not eat them; neither does he hunt or eat wild animals. He keeps hives and hives of great fierce bees, and lives most on cream and honey. As a bear he ranges far and wide."

Bella and the dwarves now had plenty to think about, and they asked no more questions. They still had a long way to walk before them. Up slope and down dale they plodded. It grew very hot. Sometimes they rested under the trees, and Bella felt so hungry that the acorns on the forest floor were starting to look slightly edible.

It was the middle of the afternoon before they noticed that great patches of flowers had begun to spring up, all the same kinds growing together as if they had been planted. Especially there was clover, waving patches of cockscomb clover, and purple clover, and white stretches of short white sweet honey-smelling clover. There was a buzzing and a whirring and a droning in the air. Bees were busy everywhere. And such bees! Bella had never seen anything like them.

They were bigger than hornets. The drones were bigger than Bella's thumb, a good deal, and the bands of yellow on their deep black bodies shone like fiery gold. "We are getting near," said Gandalf. "We are on the edge of his bee-pastures."

After a while they came to a belt of tall and very ancient oaks, and beyond these to a high thorn-hedge through which you could neither see nor scramble.

"You had better wait here," said the wizard to the dwarves, "and when I call or whistle to begin to come after me – you will see the way I go – but only in pairs, mind, and about five minutes between each pair of you. Bombur is fattest and will do for two; he had better come alone and last. Come on Ms. Baggins! There is a gate somewhere round this way."

"Wait!" Thorin said, stopping Gandalf in his tracks. "You're taking the hobbit first?" Being called the hobbit stung, but Bella remained stoic as she watched Thorin.

"I won't allow any harm to come to her, Thorin," Gandalf said with a knowing look before he and Bella went off along the hedge. She looked back at Thorin and caught his slightly worried gaze, giving him a small smile before turning back around.

They soon came to a wooden gate, high and broad, beyond which they could see gardens and a cluster of wooden buildings, some thatched and made of unshaped logs: barns, stables, sheds, and a long low wooden house. Inside on the southward side of the great hedge were rows and rows of hives with bell-shaped tops made of straw. The noise of the bees flying to and fro filled all the air.

The wizard and the hobbit pushed open the heavy creaking gate and went down a wide track towards the house. Some horses, very sleek and well-groomed, trotted up across the grass and looked at them intently with very intelligent faces; then off they galloped t the buildings.

"They have gone to tell him of the arrival of strangers," Gandalf said.

Soon they reached a courtyard, three walls of which were formed by the wooden house and its two long wings. In the middle there was lying a great oak-trunk with many lopped branches beside it. Standing near was a huge man with a thick black bear and hair, and great bare arms and legs with knotted muscles. He was clothed in a tunic of wool down to his knees, and was leaning on a large axe. The horses were standing by him with their noses at his shoulder.

"Here they are!" he said to the horses. "They don't look dangerous. You can be off!" He laughed a great rolling laugh, put down his axe and came forward.

"Who are you and what do you want?" he asked gruffly, standing in front of them and towering tall above Gandalf. As for Bella, she was just over knee height to the strange man.

"I am Gandalf," said the wizard.

"Never heard of him," growled the man. "And what's this little girl?" he said, stopping down to frown at Bella with his bushy black eyebrows.

"This is Ms. Bella Baggins, a hobbit of good family and unimpeachable reputation," said Gandalf. Bella curtsied low. "I am a wizard. I have heard of you, if you have not heard of me; but perhaps you have heard of my good cousin Radagast who lives near the Southern borders of Mirkwood?"

"Yes; not a bad fellow as wizards go, I believe. I used to see him now and again," said Beorn. "Well, now I know who you are. What do you want?"

"To tell you the truth, we have lost our luggage and nearly lost our way, and are rather in need of help, or at least advice. I may say we have had rather a bad time with the goblins in the mountains."

"Goblins?" said Beorn. "O ho, so you've been having trouble with them have you? What did you go near them for?"

"We did not mean to. They surprised us at night in a pass which we had to cross; we were coming out of the Lands over West into these countries – it is a long tale."

"Then you had better come inside and tell me some of it, if it won't take all day," said Beorn leading the way through a dark door that opened out of the courtyard and into the house.

Following him they found themselves in a wide hall with a fire-place in the middle. Though it was summer there was a wood-fire burning and the smoke was rising to the blackened rafters in search of the way out through the opening in the roof. They passed through the dim hall, lit only by the fire and the hole above it, and came through another small door into a sort of veranda propped on wooden posts made of single tree-trunks. It faced south and was still warm and filled with the light of the westering sun which slanted into it, and fell golden on the garden full of flowers that came right up to the steps.

Here they sat on wooden benches while Gandalf began his tale, and Bella looked at the flowers in the garden.

"I was coming over the mountains with a friend or two…" said the wizard.

"Or two? I can see only one, and a little one at that," said Beorn.

"Well to tell you the truth, I did not like to bother you with the lot of us, until I found out if you were busy. I will give a call, if I may."

"Go on, call away!"

So Gandalf gave a long shrill whistle and presently Thorin and Dwalin came round the house by the garden path and stood bowing low before them. Bella noticed that Thorin had quickly looked her over for any sign of a new injury or distress. It made her heart flutter.

"One or three you meant, I see!" said Beorn. "But these aren't hobbits, they are dwarves!"

"Thorin Oakenshield at you service! Dwalin at your service!" they said, bowing once again.

"I don't need your service, thank you," said Beorn, "but I expect you need mine. I am not over fond of dwarves; but if it is true that you are Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror, and that your companion is respectable, and that you are enemies of goblins and are not up to any mischief in my lands – what are you up to, by the way?"

"They are on their way to visit the land of their fathers, east beyond Mirkwood," put in Gandalf, "and it is entirely an accident that we are in your lands at all. We were crossing by the High Pass that should have brought us to the road that lies to the south of your country, when we were attacked by goblins – as I was about to tell you."

"Go on telling, then!" said Beorn.

"There was a terrible storm; the stone-giants were out hurling rocks, and at the head of the pass we took refuge in a cave, the hobbit and I and several of our companions…"

"Do you call two several?"

"Well, no. As a matter of fact there were more then two."

"Where are they? Killed, eaten, gone home?"

"Well, no. They don't seem to have come when I whistled. Shy, I expect. You see, we are very much afraid that we are rather a lot for you to entertain."

"Go on, whistle again! I am in for a party, it seems…"

And so this went on and on until eventually all dwarves had arrived and been introduced. "Well, now there _are _fifteen of you; and since goblins can count, I suppose that is all that there were up in the trees. Now perhaps we can finish this story without any more interruptions." Bella saw then how clever Gandalf had been. The interruptions had really made Beorn more interested in the story, and the story kept him from sending the dwarves off at once like suspicious beggars.

By the time the tale was finished, the sun had fallen behind the peaks of the Misty Mountains and the shadows were long in Beorn's garden. "A very good tale," said he. "The best I have heard for a long while. If all beggars could tell such a good one, they might find me kinder. You may be making it all up of course, but you deserve a supper for the story all the same. Let's have something to eat!"

Inside the hall it was now quite dark. Beorn clapped his hands, and in trotted four beautiful white ponies and several long-bodied grey dogs. Beorn said something to them in a queer language like animal noises turned into talk. They went out again and soon came back carrying torches in their mouths, which they lit at the fire and stuck in low bracket on the pillars of the hall about the central hearth. The dogs could stand on their hind-legs when they wished, and carry things with their fore-feet. Quickly they got out boards and trestles from the side walls and set them up near the fire.

Then baa – baa – baa was heard, and in came some snow-white sheep led by a large black ram. One bore a white cloth embroidered at the edges with figures of animals; others bore on their broad backs tray with bowls and platters and knives and wooden spoons, which the dogs took and quickly laid on the trestle-tables. These were very low, low enough even for Bella to sit at comfortably. Beside them a pony pushed two low-seated benches with wide rush-bottoms and little short thick legs for Gandalf and Thorin, while at the far end he put Beorn's big black chair of the same sort. These were all the chairs he had in his hall, and he probably had them low like the tables for the convenience of the wonderful animals that waited on him.

There they had a supper, or a dinner, such as they had not since the left the Last Homely House in the West and said good-bye to Elrond. The light of the torches and the fire flickered about them, and on the table were two tall red beeswax candles. All the time they ate, Beorn in his deep rolling voice told tales of the wild lands on this side of the mountains, and especially of the dark and dangerous wood, that lay outstretched far to the North and South a day's ride before them, barring their way to the East, the terrible forest of Mirkwood.

The dwarves listened and shook their beards, for they knew that they must soon venture into that forest and that after the mountains it was the worst of the perils they to pass before they came to the dragon's stronghold. When dinner was over they began to tell tales of their own, but Beorn seemed to be growing drowsy and paid little heed to them. They spoke most of gold and silver and jewels and the making of things by smith-craft, and Beorn did not appear to care for such things; there were no things of gold or silver in his hall, and few save the knives were made of metal at all.

They sat long at the table with their wooden drinking-bowls filled with mead. The dark night came on outside. The fires in the middle of the hall were built with fresh logs and the torches were put out, and still they sat in the light of the dancing flames with the pillars of the house standing tall behind them, and dark at the top like trees of the forest. Whether it was magic or not, it seemed to Bella that she heard a sound like the wind in the branches stirring in the rafters, and the hoot of owls. Standing up silently while the dwarves were lost in conversation, and Gandalf and Beorn listened half-heartedly, she walked up to one of the ponies standing all by their lonesome in the corner. It was a gorgeous chestnut mare, which nickered softly when she came over.

As she had listened to the dwarves' tales of the kings being consumed by dragon-sickness, the thought struck her that the same might happen to Thorin. Being with the pony, she figured she could vent out her frustrations without the others listening since they were lost in conversation. Softly, she began to sing.

_You're alone, you're on your own, so what?  
Have you gone blind?  
Have you forgotten what you have and what is yours?  
Glass half empty, glass half full  
Well either way you won't be going thirsty  
Count your blessings not your flaws_

Stroking the pony's mane as she sung, she failed to notice that the hall had gone quiet and everyone turned to watch her as she sang in what they thought to be 'an enchanting voice.'

_You've got it all  
You lost your mind in the sound  
There's so much more  
You can reclaim your crown  
You're in control  
Rid of the monsters inside your head  
Put all your faults to bed  
You can be king again_

_You don't get what all this is about  
You're too wrapped up in your self-doubt  
You've got that young blood, set it free_

_You've got it all  
You lost your mind in the sound  
There's so much more  
You can reclaim your crown  
You're in control  
Rid of the monsters inside your head  
Put all your faults to bed  
You can be king_

_There's method in my madness  
There's no logic in your sadness  
You don't gain a single thing from misery  
Take it from me_

_You've got it all  
You lost your mind in the sound  
There's so much more  
You can reclaim your crown  
You're in control  
Rid of the monsters inside your head  
Put all your faults to bed  
You can be king_

_You've got it all  
You lost your mind in the sound  
There's so much more  
You can reclaim your crown  
You're in control  
Rid of the monsters inside your head  
Put all your faults to bed  
You can be king again_

When she finished her soft tune, she continued to finger the pony's mane for a few moments before she _finally_ realized that the hall was silent. Risking a glance over her shoulder, she blushed a fire red when she saw that everyone was gawking at her as if they'd just been released from a spell she had cast over them. Thorin wore a small smile on his face and he stood up to approach her, sending a glance at the other dwarves, causing them to look away and engage in idle chatter. Gandalf and Beorn watched the two curiously.

"You sing beautifully," he told her as he placed a warm hand on her shoulder, fingers playing with a strand of her brown locks.

She gave a small chuckle. "Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it."

Thorin suddenly looked thoughtful. "I'm amazed at how much you picked up about our history with the dragon-sickness. It showed through our song that you understand its power as well as any dwarf."

"I try my hardest to understand what you dwarves have been through. My life in the Shire was so peaceful when I compare my life with yours. Although, I've never had a place I consider home, but I know if I had one, I would want to remain there forever. Which is one of the reasons I've stayed this long," she said, gazing into his blue orbs.

A pained look seemed to flicker in Thorin's eyes when she said she never had a home, but it was gone as quickly as it had come. "Remember that song," he murmured. "I wish to hear it again in the very near future." Bending down, he placed a soft kiss against her lips. It was quick, and it ended all too soon, when Gandalf spoke up. Damn that wizard.

"It is time for us to sleep," said the blasted wizard. "In this hall we can rest sound and safe, but I will warn you all not to forget what Beorn said before he left us; you must not stray outside until the sun is up, on your peril."

Bella found that beds had already been laid at the side of the hall, on a sort of raised platform between the pillars and the outer wall. For her there was a little mattress of straw and woolen blankets. She snuggled into them very gladly, summertime though it was. The fire burned low and she fell asleep.

It was full morning when she awoke. Someone was gently shaking her shoulder and she looked up sleepily to see Thorin's handsome smiling face peering down on her. "Is it time to get up?" she groaned.

Thorin chuckled. "Well we're all up since your snoring puts ours to shame," he said.

Bella turned red. "I do not snore!" she snapped, emerging from the warm bed. Thorin let out a hearty laugh as she finger combed her hair.

"Breakfast is out on the veranda. You'd better be quick if you want any; I fear the others are feasting away quite ferociously!" With a girly giggle, she followed him out to the veranda, and immediately understood what he had meant by ferociously feasting!

The dwarves were savagely scarfing down muffins, and bread, and rolls, and honey covered biscuits with vigor. Gingerly, she grabbed a muffin and began took a bite of its sweetness, only to see Thorin watching her mouth intently. Deciding to be a bit of a tease, she flicked her tongue out sensually to get a bit of honey at the corner of her lips. It was really hard not to laugh at the crimson blush that stained Thorin's cheeks. "Aha!" she thought. "I've finally made the great king blush!"

There was no sign of Gandalf till just before the sun had set, and Beorn was also since the night prior. "Where is our host, and where have you been all day yourself?" several asked.

"One question at a time – and none till after supper! I haven't had a bit to eat since breakfast!"

At long last Gandalf pushed away his plate and jug and took out his pipe. "I was picking out bear-tracks," he said. "There must have been regular bears meeting outside here last night. I soon saw that Beorn could not have made them all; there were far too many of them, and they were various sizes too. I should say there were little bears, large bears, ordinary bears, and gigantic bears, all dancing outside from dark to nearly dawn. They came from almost every direction, except from the west over the river, from the mountains."

There was not much more for Gandalf to say so they all soon retired to bed.

The next morning they were all awakened by Beorn. "So here you all are still! Come and have breakfast!"

So they all went to breakfast with him. Beorn was most jolly for a change; indeed he seemed to be in a splendidly good humor and set them all laughing with his funny stories; nor did they have to wonder long where he had been or why he was so nice to them, for he told them himself. He had been over the river and right back up into the mountains – from which you can guess that he could travel quickly, in bear's shape at any rate. From the burnt wolf-glade he had caught a Warg and a goblin wandering in the woods. From there he had got news; the goblin patrols were still hunting with Wargs for the dwarves, and they were fiercely angry because of the death of the Great Goblin and the slaughter of the Wargs. So much they told him when he forced the, but he guessed there was more wickedness than this afoot, and that a great raid of the whole goblin army with their wolf-allies into the lands shadowed by the mountains might soon be made to find the dwarves, or to take vengeance on the men and creatures that lived there, and who they thought must be sheltering them.

This is what Beorn promised to do for them. He would provide ponies for each of them, and a horse for Gandalf, for their journey to the forest, and he would lade them with food to last them for weeks with care, and packed so as to be easy as possible. Water, he said, they would not need to carry this side of the forest, for there were streams and springs along the road. "But your way through Mirkwood is dark, dangerous and difficult," he said. "Water is not easy to find there, nor food. I will provide you with skins for carrying water, and I will give you some bows and arrows. But I doubt very much whether anything you find in Mirkwood will be wholesome to eat or drink. There is one stream I know of though, black and strong which crosses the path. That you should neither drink of, nor bate in; for I have heard that it carries enchantment and a great drowsiness and forgetfulness. And in the dim shadows of the place that I don't think you will shoot anything, wholesome or unwholesome, without straying from the path. That you MUST NOT do, for any reason.

That is all the advice I can give you. Beyond the edge of the forest I cannot help you much; you must depend on your luck and your courage and the food I send with you. At the gate of the forest I must ask you to send back my horse and ponies. But I wish you all speed, and my house is open to you, if you ever come this way again."

They thanked him, of course, with many bows and sweepings of their hoods and with many "at your service, O master of the wide wooden halls." But their spirits sank at his grave words, and they all felt that the adventure was far more dangerous than they had thought, while all the time, even if they passed all the perils of the road, the dragon was still waiting at the end.

All morning they were busy with preparations. Soon after midday they ate with Beorn for the last time, and after the meal they were led to their steeds he was going to lend them. When Bella saw the size of the ponies, her heart sank. The ponies were almost too large for the dwarves, and were way too big for her! When Thorin saw her distress, he mounted his pony and reached his hand down to her. "Ride with me?" he asked, to which she answered by placing her hand in his and allowing him to pull her onto the large pony. Wrapping her arms boldly around his midsection to hang on, she relished in getting to hold him flush up against her. They bid Beorn goodbye as they rode off through his gate at a good pace.

As soon as they left his high hedges at the east of his fenced lands they turned north and then bore to north-west. By his advice they were no longer making for the main forest-road to the south of his land. Had they followed the pass, their path would have led them down a stream from the mountains and joined the great river miles south of the Carrock. The edges of Mirkwood grew closer and though here the Mountains too drew down nearer, Beorn had advised them to take this way; for at a place of a few days' ride due north of the Carrock was a gate of a little-known pathway through Mirkwood that led almost straight towards the Lonely Mountain.

For four days they travelled, and Bella had to admit she was enjoying the riding, since she got to spend a lot of time with Thorin. Though they talked little, it was comforting having him so near to her, and she was dreading the time when they would have to return the ponies and head into Mirkwood. On the fourth day, they had reached the eaves of Mirkwood, and were resting almost beneath the great overhanging boughs of its outer trees. Their trunks were huge and gnarled, their branches twisted, their leaves were dark and long. Ivy grew on them and trailed along the ground.

"Well, here is Mirkwood!" said Gandalf. "The greatest of the forests of the Northern world. I hope you like the look of it. Now you must send back these excellent ponies you have borrowed."

"What about your horse then?" Thorin said. "You didn't mention sending it back."

"That's because I will look after it, and I'm not sending it back. I'm going to ride it!"

Then they knew that Gandalf was going to leave them at the very edge of Mirkwood, and they were in despair. But nothing they could say would change his mind.

Come the following morning they filled up their water skins at a clear spring they found close to the forest gate, and they unpacked the ponies. They distributed the packages as fairly as they could, though Thorin had taken a bit more to compensate for Bella, of which she was grateful for. However, she did not want to burden him, so she took a bit more than he wanted to make her carry. Then at last they said goodbye to the ponies and turned their heads for home. Off they trotted gaily, seeming very glad to put their tails towards the shadow of Mirkwood.

Now Gandalf too said farewell. "Goodbye and good luck to you all. Straight through the forest is your way now. Don't stray off the track!" Gandalf tuned his horse and rode down into the west. He galloped away and was soon lost to sight.

They each shouldered their heavy packs and the water skins and turned from the light that lay on the lands outside and plunged into the forest.


	9. Flies and Spiders

Chapter 9: Flies and Spiders

They walked in single file. The entrance to the path was like a sort of arch leading into a gloomy tunnel made by two great trees that leant together, too olds and strangled with ivy and hung with lichen to bear more that few blacked leaves. The path itself was narrow and wound in and out among the trunks. Soon the light at the gate was like a little bright hole far behind, and the quiet was so deep that their feet seemed to thump along while all the trees leaned over them and listened.

As their eyes became used to the dimness they could see a little way to either side a short of darkened green glimmer. Occasionally a slender beam of sun that had the luck to slip in through some opening in the leaves far above, and still more luck in not being caught in the tangled boughs and matted twigs beneath, stabbed down thin and bright before them. But this was seldom, and it soon ceased all together.

The nastiest things they saw were the cobwebs: dark dense cobwebs with threads extraordinarily thick, often stretched from tree to tree, or tangled in the lower branches on either side of them. There were none stretched across the path, but whether because some magic kept it clear, or for what other reason they could not guess.

It was not long before they grew to hate the forest as heartily as they had hated the tunnels of the goblins, and it seemed to offer even less hope of any ending. But they had to go on and on, long after they were sick for a sight of the sun and of the sky, and longed for the feel of wind on their faces. There was no movement of air down under the forest-roof, and it was everlastingly still and dark and stuffy. Even the dwarves felt it, who were used to tunneling, and lived at times for long while without the light of the sun; but the hobbit, now felt that she was being slowly suffocated. The nights were the worst. It then became pitch dark, so black that you could see nothing.

They seldom talked, it was just too miserable to do much of anything but march forward. It was not yet very cold, but they still tried lighting watch-fires at night, but they soon gave that up. It seemed to bring hundreds and hundreds of eyes all round them, though the creatures, whatever they were, were careful to never let their bodies show in the little flicker of the flames.

All this went on for what seemed ages upon ages; and they were always hungry, for they were extremely careful with their provisions. Even so, as days followed days and still the forest seemed just the same, they began to get anxious. The food would not last forever: it was already beginning to get low. They were thirsty too, for they had none too much water, and in all the time they had seen neither spring nor stream. This was their state one day when they found their path blocked by running water. It flowed fast and strong but not very wide right across the way, and it was black, or looked it in the gloom. It was well that Beorn had warned them against it, or they would have drunk from it, whatever its color, and filled some of their empty skins at its bank. As it was they only thought of how to cross it without wetting themselves in the water. There had been a bridge of wood across, but it had rotten and fallen leaving only broken posts near the bank.

Bella kneeling on the brink and peering forward cried: "There is a boat against the far bank! Now why couldn't it have been this side!"

"How far away is it, do you think?" Thorin asked, for by now they knew that she had better eyes than all of the dwarves.

"Not all that far. I'd say it's about twelve yards."

"Twelve yards! We can't jump it, and we daren't try to wade or swim," Throin said, growing increasingly frustrated.

"Can any of you throw a rope?" Bella asked, thinking perhaps they could tow the boat across the water.

"Dori is the strongest, but Fili is the youngest and still has the best sight," said Thorin. "Come here Fili, and see if you can see the boat the hobbit is talking about."

"Ouch," Bella thought. "Again with _the hobbit_…" Fili turned to give her a small reassuring smile, assumedly guessing her thoughts. She gave him a weak one back.

Fili thought he could; so when he had stared a long while to get an idea of the direction, the others brought him a rope. They had several with them, and on the end of the longest they fastened one of the large iron hooks they had used for catching their packs to the straps about their shoulders. Fili took this in his hand, balanced it for a moment, and then flung it across the stream.

"Steady!" said Bella, "you have thrown it right into the wood on the other side now. Draw it back gently." Fili hauled the rope back slowly, and after a while Bella said: "Carefully! It is lying on the boat; let's hope the hook will catch."

It did. The rope went taut, and Fili pulled in vain. Kili came to his help, and then Oin and Gloin. They tugged and tugged, and suddenly they all fell over on their backs. Bella was on the lookout, however, caught the rope, and yelped when the boat came rushing across the stream towards her. Thorin was suddenly in front of her, his bulk blocking her as he stopped the boat with his hands, being pushed back a foot or two. When he turned to look at her, she gave him a small grin of which he returned.

"His mood swings are giving me whiplash," she thought as Balin came over.

"Who'll cross first?" asked Balin.

"I shall," said Thorin, "and Fili, and Balin, and the hobbit. That's as many as the boat will hold at a time. After that Kili and Oin and Gloin and Dori; next Ori and Nor, Bifur and Bofur; and last Dwalin and Bombur."

Eventually they were all soon on the far bank safe across the enchanted stream. Dwalin had just scrambled out of the boat and was helping Bombur, when something bad did happen. There was a flying sound of hooves on the path ahead. Out of the gloom came suddenly the shape of a flying deer. It charged into the dwarves, knocking over the lot of them, and would have trampled over poor Bella if not for Thorin who had grabbed her and pulled her out of the beast's path. High it sprang, and cleared the water with a mighty jump and disappeared on the other side.

A dreadful wail from Bella caught everyone's attention as they all got back on their feet. "Bombur has fallen in!" she cried. Only his hood was visible, so they quickly flung the rope and hook towards him. His hand caught it and they pulled him to shore. When they laid him on the bank he was already fast asleep and they were unable to wake him.

They stayed by the stream for the rest of the day and the following night. The following day they were forced to carry Bombur along with them as best they could, taking the wearisome task in turns of four each while the others shared their packs. Of course, Thorin refused when Bella offered to take a turn in helping to carry Bombur. So, she carried her pack and took some of the others, and could only watch the others while feeling utterly useless.

In a few days a time came when there was practically nothing left to eat or to drink. Nothing wholesome could they see growing in the wood, only funguses and herbs with pale leaves and unpleasant smell.

About four days from the enchanted stream they came to a part where most of the trees were beeches. They were at first inclined to be cheered by the change, for here there was no undergrowth and the shadow was not too deep. There was a greenish light about them, and in places they could see some distance to either side of the path. Yet the light only showed them the endless lines of straight grey trunks like the pillars of some huge twilight hall. There was a breath of air and a noise of wind, but it had a sad sound. A few leaves came rustling down to remind them that outside autumn was coming on. Their feet ruffled among the dead leaves of countless other autumns that drifted over the banks of the path from the deep red carpets of the forests.

Still Bombur slept and they grew very weary. At times they heard disquieting laughter. Sometimes there was singing in the distance too. The laughter was the laughter of fair voices not of goblins, and the singing was beautiful, but it sounded eerie and strange, and they were no comforted, rather they hurried on from those parts with what strength they had left.

Two days later they found their path going downwards, and before long they were in a valley filled almost entirely with a mighty growth of oaks. "Is there no end to this accursed forest?" said Thorin.

"Hey," Bella said, placing a hand on his arm to try and soothe his anger. It didn't appear to work when he turned his fierce gaze down on her. "Let me climb one of these trees to see if I can poke my head out of the branches to see if I can see the end of this forest."

Consenting, the dwarves watched as Bella walked over to a tree that looked particularly sturdy. The lowest branches were too high from the ground for her to reach, so Thorin and Dwalin boosted her up so that she could grab them. Up she went as best she could, pushing her way through the tangled twigs with many a slap in the eye. Many times she slipped, until after one particularily bad fall where she had lost her grip and fell a few feet before catching another branch in her grasp, when Thorin called up to her. "Stop this! This is madness and you're going to achieve nothing but getting yourself injured or killed. Come down and we'll send up Fili or Kili!"

Risking a glance down at him, she shuddered at how high she was. "No!" she called down. "They'll be too heavy for these branches. I can do this!"

At last, she got to the very top of the tree. Bella's eyes were nearly blinded by the light. She could hear the dwarves shouting up at her from far below, but she could not answer, only hold on and blink. The sun was shining brilliantly, and it was a long while before she could bear it. When she could, she saw all around her was a sea of dark green, ruffled here and there by the breeze.

Gazing as hard as she could, she could see no end to the trees and the leaves in any direction. Of course, she realized that they were in a valley, so it was possible that the ending to the forest could just be hidden from view. She climbed back down, scratched up and hot, and she could not see anything in the gloom below when she got there. Her report didn't do much to cheer them up.

That night they ate their very last scraps and crumbs of food; and next morning when they woke the first thing they noticed was that they were still gnawingly hungry, and the next thing was that it was raining and that here and there the drip of it was dropping heavily on the forest floor. That only reminded them that they were parchingly thirsty, without doing anything to relieve them. The only scrap of comfort there was came from Bombur.

He woke up suddenly and sat up scratching his head. He could not make out where he was at all, nor whey he felt so hungry; for he had forgotten everything that had happened since they started their journey that May morning long ago. The last thing that he remembered was the party at the hobbit's house, and they had great difficulty in making him believe their tale of all the many adventures they had had since.

When he heard that there was nothing to eat, he sat down and wept, for he felt very weak and wobbly in the legs. "Why ever did I wake up!" he cried. "I was having such beautiful dreams."

There was nothing now to be done but to tighten the belts round their empty stomachs, and hoist their empty sacks and packs, and trudge along the track without any great hope of ever getting to the end before they laid down and died of starvation. This they did all day, going very slowly and wearily; while Bombur kept on wailing that his legs would not carry him and that he wanted to lie down and sleep.

"No you don't!" they said. "Let your legs take their share, we have carried you far enough!"

All the same he suddenly refused to go a step further and flung himself on the ground. "Go on, if you must," he said. "I'm just going to lie here and sleep and dream of food, if I can't get it any other way I hope I never wake up again."

At that very moment Balin, who was a little way ahead, called out: "What was that? I thought I saw a twinkle of light in the forest."

They all looked, and a longish way off, it seemed, they saw a red twinkle in the dark; then another and another sprang out beside it. Even Bombur got up, and they hurried along then, not caring if it was trolls or goblins. The light was in front of them and to the left of the path, and when at last they had drawn level with it, it seemed plain torches and fires were burning under the trees, but a good way off their track.

"It looks as if my dreams were coming true," said Bombur, coming up behind. He wanted to rush straight off into the wood after the lights. But the others remembered only too well the warnings of the wizard and of Beorn. However, in the end, in spite of warnings, hunger decided them, because Bombur kept on describing all the good things that were being eaten, according to his dream, in the woodland feast; so they all left the path and plunged into the forest.

After a good deal of creeping and crawling they peered round the trunks and looked into a clearing where some trees had been felled and the ground levelled. There were many people there, elvish-looking folk, all dressed in green and brown and sitting on sawn rings of the felled trees in a great circle. There was a fire in their midst and there were torches fastened to some of the trees round about; but most splendid sight of all: they were eating and drinking and laughing merrily.

The smell of the roast meats was so enchanting that, without waiting to consult one another, every one of them got up and scrambled forwards into the ring with the one idea of asking for food. No sooner had the first stepped into the clearing than all the lights went out as if by magic. Somebody kicked the fire and it went up in rockets of glittering sparks and vanished. They were lost in a completely lightless dark and they could not even find one another, not for a long time at any rate. After blundering frantically in the gloom, falling over logs, bumping crash into trees, and shouting and calling till they must have waked everything in the forest for miles, at last they managed to gather themselves in a bundle and count themselves by touch. By that time they had, of course, quite forgotten in what direction the path lay, and they were all hopelessly lost, at least till morning.

There was nothing for it but to settle down for the night where they were; they did not even dare to search on the ground for scraps of food for fear of becoming separated again. But they had not been lying long, and Bella was only just getting drowsy, when Dori, whose turn it was for first watch, said in a loud whisper: "The lights are coming out again over there, and there are more of them!"

Up they all jumped. Sure enough, not far away were scores of twinkling lights, and they heard the voices and the laughter quite plainly. They crept slowly towards them, in a single line, each touching the back of the one in front. When they go near Thorin said: "No rushing forward this time! No one is to stir from hiding till I say. I shall send the hobbit to talk to them alone first, since they won't be frightened of her. We'll watch over from the bushes in case you need us."

When they got to the edge of the circle of lights they pushed Bella suddenly from behind. Before she had time to slip on her ring, she stumbled forward into the full blaze of the fire and the torches. It was no good. Out went the all the lights again and complete darkness fell.

Once they were all collected again, they settled down for sleep again, when Kili roused them. "There's a blaze of light off not even a hundred yards," the young dwarf said.

After lying and listening for a while, they found they could not resist the desire to go nearer and try once more to get help. Up they got again; and this time the result was disastrous. As soon as Thorin stepped into their midst, dead silence fell. Out went all light. The fires leaped up in black smokes. Ashes and cinders were in the eyes of the dwarves, and the wood was filled again with their clamor and cries.

Bella found herself running around calling out for all the dwarves. "THORIN!" she screamed! "CAN YOU HEAR ME?!" The sound of her companions had disappeared altogether, and she was left alone in the complete silence and darkness.

That was one of her most miserable moments. But she soon made up her mind that it was no good trying to do anything until day came with some light, and quite useless to go blundering about tiring herself out with no hope of any food to revive her. So she sat herself down with her back to a tree, and began to think about Thorin and the events that had taken place since they'd entered Mirkwood. He hadn't been ignoring her or avoiding her, more like it was just such a gloomy place that no one wanted to speak or sing with one another. Oh how she prayed that she'd find them all in the morning. She was deep in thought about Thorin and the others when she felt something touch her. Something like a strong sticky string was against her left hand, and when she tried to move she found that her legs were already wrapped in the same stuff, so that when she got up she fell over.

Then the great spider, which had been busy tying her up while she dozed, came from behind her and came at her. She could only see the thing's eyes, but she could feel its hairy legs as it struggled to wind its abominable threads around her. It was lucky that she had come to her senses in time. Soon she would not have been able to move at all. As it was, she had a desperate fight before she got free. She beat the creature off with her hands – it was trying to poison her to keep her quiet, as small spiders do to flies – until she remembered her sword and drew it out. Then the spider jumped back, and she had time to cut her legs loose. After that it was her turn to attack. The spider evidently was not used to things that carried such stings at their sides, or it would have hurried away quicker. Bella came at it before it could disappear and stuck it with her sword right in the eyes. Then it went mad and leaped and danced and flung out its legs in horrible jerks, until she kicked it with another stroke; and then she fell down and remembered nothing more for a long while.

There was the usual dim grey light of the forest-day about her when she came to her senses. The spider lay dead beside her, and her sword-blade was stained black. Somehow the killing of the giant spider, all alone by herself in the dark without the help of the wizard or dwarves made a great difference to Bella. She felt much fiercer and bolder as she wiped her sword on the grass and put it back it its sheath. "I will give you a name," she said to it, "and I shall call you _Sting_."

After that she set out to explore. The forest was grim and silent, but obviously she had first of all to look for all her friends, who were not likely to be very far off, unless they had been made prisoner by the elves (or worse things). Bella felt that it was unsafe to shout, and she stood a long while wondering in what direction the path lay, and in what direction she should go first to look for the dwarves. "O! Why did we not remember Beorn's advice, and Gandalf's!" she lamented. "What a mess we are in now! It's terrible being all alone."

In the end she made as good a guess as she could at the direction from which the cries from the dwarves had come in the night – and by luck she guessed more or less right. Having made up her mind she crept along as cleverly as she could. Slipping on her ring in case, she picked her way stealthily for some distance, when she noticed a place of dense black shadow ahead of her. As she drew nearer, she saw that it was made by spider-webs one behind and over and tangled with another. Suddenly she saw, too, that there were spiders huge and horrible sitting in the branches above her, and she trembled with fear. Standing behind a tree she watched the group for some time, and then in the silence and stillness of the wood she realized that the loathsome creatures were speaking one to another. Their voices were a sort of thin creaking and hissing, but she could make out many of the words they were saying. They were talking about the dwarves.

"It was a sharp struggle, but worth it," said one. "What nasty thick skins they have to be sure, but I'll wager there is good juice inside."

"Aye, they'll make fine eating, when they've hung a bit," said another.

"Don't hang 'em too long," said a third. "They're not as fat as they might be. Been feeding none too well of late, I should guess."

"Kill 'em, I say," hissed a fourth. "Kill 'em now and hang 'em dead for a while."

"They're dead now, I'll warrant," said the first.

"That they are not. I saw one a-struggling just now. Just coming round again, I should say, after a bee-autiful sleep. I'll show you."

With that one of the fat spiders ran along a rope till it came to a dozen bundles hanging in a row from a high branch. Bella was horrified, now that she noticed them for the first time dangling in the shadows, to see a dwarvish foot sticking out of the bottoms of some bundles, or here and there the tip of a nose, or a bit of beard, or a hood.

To the fattest of these bundles the spider went, of which Bella assumed encased Bombur, and bit the tip of the nose that stuck out. There was a muffled yelp inside, and a toe shot up and kicked the spider straight and hard. There was life in Bombur still. There was a noise like the kicking of a flabby football, and the enraged spider fell off the branch, only catching itself with its own thread just in time. The others laughed. "You were quite right," they said, "the meat's alive and kicking!"

"I'll soon put an end to that," hissed the angry spider climbing back onto the branch.

Bella saw that the moment had come when she must do something. She could not get up at the brutes and she had nothing to shoot with; but looking she saw that in this place there were many stones lying in what appeared to be a now dry little watercourse. Bella was a pretty fair shot with a stone, and it did not take her long to find a nice smooth egg shaped one that fit in her hand cozily. While she was picking up stones, the spider had reached Bombur, and soon he would have been dead. At that moment Bella threw. The stone struck the spider plunk on the head, and it dropped senseless off the tree, flop to the ground, with all its legs curled up.

The next stone went whizzing through a big web, snapping its cords, and taking off the spider sitting in the middle of it, whack, dead. After that there was a deal of commotion in the spider-colony, and they forgot the dwarves for a bit, I can tell you. They could not see Bella, but they could make a good guess at the direction from which the stones were coming. As quick as lightning they came running and swinging towards the hobbit, flinging out their long threads in all directions, till the air seemed full of weaving snares.

Bella, however, soon slipped away to a different place. The idea came to her to lead the furious spiders further and further away from the dwarves if she could; to make them curious, excited and angry all at once. When about fifty had gone off to the place where she had stood before, she threw some more stones at these, and at others that had stopped behind; then dancing among the trees she began to call out to the spiders to infuriate them and so that the dwarves could hear her voice: "Can't catch me you silly spiders! Come catch me if you think you're up for the challenge!"

Practically all the spiders in the place came after her: some dropped to the ground; others raced along the branches, swung from tree to tree, or cast new ropes across the dark spaces. They made for her noise far quicker than she expected. They were frightfully angry. Quite apart from the stones no spider has ever liked being teased. Off Bella scuttled to a fresh place, but several of the spiders had run now to different points of the glade where they lived, and were busy spinning webs across all the spaces between the tree stems. Very soon the hobbit would be caught in a thick fence of them all round him – that at least was the spiders' idea.

She soon found that the last space between two tall trees had been closed with a web – but luckily not a proper web, only great strands of double-thick spider-rope run hastily backwards and forwards from trunk to trunk. Out came her sword and she slashed the pieces.

The spiders saw the sword and at once the whole lot of them came hurrying after the hobbit along the ground and the branches, hairy legs waving, nippers and spinners snapping, eyes popping, full of froth and rage. They followed Bella into the forest as far as she dared. Than quieter than a mouse he stole back.

She had precious little time, she knew, before the spiders were disgusted and came back to their trees where the dwarves were hung. In the meanwhile she had to rescue them. The worst part of the job was getting up on the branch where the bundles were dangling. She went to the first bundle. "Fili or Kili," she thought by the tip of a blue hood sticking out at the top. "Most likely Fili," she thought by the tip of a long nose poking out of the winding threads. She managed by leaning over to cut most of the strong sticky threads that bound him round, and then, sure enough, with a kick and a struggle most of Fili emerged.

Somehow or other Fili was got on to the branch, and then he did his best to help Bella, although he was very ill from the spider's poison and from hanging upside down for almost 24 hours. Between them they began to free the dwarves, who were no better off than Fili. Eventually they were all free, when they noticed that the spiders had tied up poor Bombur again and were dragging him away. The dwarves all scrambled and began to hack and stab the spiders, freeing Bombur and killing off many of the creepy beasts.

Then the battle began. Some of the dwarves had knives, and some had sticks, and all of them could get at stones; and Bella had her elvish dagger. Again and again the spiders were beaten off, and many of them were killed. But it could not go on for long. Bella was nearly tired out; only four of the dwarves were able to stand firmly, and soon they would all be overpowered like weary flies. Already the spiders were beginning to weave their webs all round them again from tree to tree.

In the end Bella could think of no plan except to let the dwarves into the secret of her ring. She was rather sorry about it, but it could not be helped.

"I am going to disappear," she said. "I shall draw the spiders off, if I can; and you must keep together and make in the opposite direction. To the left there, that is more or less the way towards the place where we last saw the elf-fires."

It was difficult to get them to understand, what with their dizzy heads, and the shouts, and the whacking of sticks and the throwing of stones; but at last Bella felt she could delay no longer – the spiders were drawing their circle ever closer. She suddenly slipped on her ring, and to the great astonishment of the dwarves she vanished.

Soon she was teasing the spiders once again from among the trees away on the right. That upset the spiders greatly. They stopped advancing, and went off in the direction of her voice. Then Balin, who had grasped Bella's plan better that the rest, led an attack. The dwarves huddled together in a knot, sending a shower of stones they drove at the spiders on the left, and burst through the ring. Away behind them, the shouting from Bella suddenly stopped.

Hoping desperately that Bella had not been caught the dwarves went on. Not fast enough, though. They were sick and weary, and they could not go much better than a hobble and a wobble, though many of the spiders were close behind. Every now and then they had to turn and fight the creatures that were overtaking them; and already some spiders were in the trees above them and throwing down their long threads.

Things were looking pretty bad again, when suddenly Bella reappeared, and charged into the astonished spiders unexpectedly from the side. "Go on! Get going!" she shouted. "I'll handle things here!"

And she did. She darted backwards and forwards, slashing at spider-threads, hacking at their legs, and stabbing at their fat bodies if they came to near. The spiders swelled with rage, and spluttered and frothed, and hissed out horrible curses; but they had become mortally afraid of Sting, and dared not come very near, now that it had come back. So curse as they would, their prey moved slowly but steadily away. It was a most terrible business, and seemed to take hours. But at last, just when Bella felt that she could not lift her hand for a single stroke more, the spiders suddenly gave it up, and followed them no more, but went back disappointed to their disappointed colony.

The dwarves then noticed that they had come to the edge of a ring where elf-fires had been. Whether it was one of those they had seen the night before, they could not tell. But it seemed that some good magic lingered in such spots, which the spiders did not like. At any rate here the light was greener, and the boughs less thick and threatening and they had a chance to rest and draw breath.

There they rested for a while, until Bella decided to do one last headcount and nearly shrieked aloud. "Where is Thorin?" she gasped, standing up. The others all looked around, and suddenly it was realized that no one had seen him since before the spider incident. In Bella's exhaustion, she too had missed the fact that he was gone. Turning to look at her surroundings, tears welled up in her eyes. Yet there was nothing for them to do, but stay where they were for the night.

As a sort of coping method for not thinking about Thorin, she told the dwarves all about her ring that she'd found in the mountain, before they dropped off one by one into uncomfortable sleep filled with horrible dreams; Bella's being the worst. While the dwarves and the hobbit slept, they were grabbed in their sleep and dragged away by tall figures into the night.

Thorin had been caught much faster than they had. As soon as Thorin had stepped into the circle of light and the lights went out he fell like a stone enchanted. All the noise of the dwarves lost in the night, their cries as the spiders caught them and bound them, and all the sounds of the battle the next day, had passed over him unheard. Then the Wood-elves had come to him, and bound him, and carried him away.

To their cave they dragged Thorin – none too gently, for they had little love for dwarves, and thought he was an enemy. Consequently Thorin was angry at their treatment of him, when they took their spell off him and he came to his senses; and also he was determined that no word of gold or jewels should be dragged out of him.

The king looked sternly on Thorin, when he was brought before him, and asked him many questions. But Thorin would only say that he was starving. Watching, hidden from Thorin's view, were the dwarves and the hobbit, bound and gagged by the Wood-elves that had stolen them in the night. They could see Thorin, but he was not aware that they had been taken.

"Why did you and your folk try three times to try to attack my people at their merrymaking?" asked the king.

"We did not attack them," answered Thorin. "We came to beg for food."

"Where are your friends now and what are they doing?"

"I don't know, but I expect starving in the forest."

"What were you doing in the forest?"

"Looking for food and drink."

"But what brought you into the forest at all?" the king asked angrily.

At that Thorin shut his mouth and would not say another word.

"Very well!" said the king. "Perhaps bringing in these thirteen folk with change your mind."

Bella and the dwarves were suddenly dragged roughly by the elf guards into Thorin's view and brought just a few feet from him. The dwarf king's eyes darted to Bella immediately, looking her over for injuries. Other than a few bruises and scratches, she was relatively unharmed. As he looked over her, Bella noticed that the elf king say Thorin's concern for her well-being. A dark smile crossed his face.

"Ungag the female and bring her forward!" the king snapped. The guard tore the gag off of her. Thorin yelled.

"NO! Leave her be," Thorin shouted, anger filled his features as he was restrained by two pale blond elves.

The guard behind her gave her a hard shove forward; so hard that she fell over directly in front of the elf king. Awkwardly (because of her bound hands) she stood up and looked hard at the blond king. His crown of finely crafted twigs and gems glinted in the torch-lit cavern, and his cool eyes regarded her with interest. Thorin growled, but was silenced by a blade to his throat, which caused Bella to cringe nervously.

"What are you?" the King inquired, looking her over with a judgmental eye. She hated the look of this elf. He was nothing like Elrond; this elf was cold and cruel. "You're certainly not a dwarf."

"A hobbit," she said simply.

"Where do you come from?"

"The Shire."

"A hobbit from the Shire," the king mumbled. "I believe I have heard tales of this place once or twice before. What would you be doing with a bunch of _male_ dwarves alone in the forest?"

Now she really hated this man. Quirking her eyebrow, she glared hard at him. "I hardly see how that is any of your business. You kidnap us in our sleep and drag us into your palace and question our morals! This is hardly just. You asked us some interesting questions. Just what exactly do you wish to hear from us?"

The king looked positively angry, and Bella caught the shocked looks on the dwarves' faces. Before she could blink, the elf's hand was around her throat and was starting to lift her off of the ground. Beside her, she could hear Thorin begin to struggle again, along with many of the other dwarves. "Just what kind of a creature are you?" the king asked, setting her down on her feet once more. His hand released her throat but moved up to trace her cheek and turn her head slightly away from him. "No being has ever come into my palace and dared to speak to me in such a manner."

A sigh came from Bella, as if she were growing bored. "You've yet to answer my question. What do you wish to hear from us?"

"The truth!" the king shouted, standing upright. "I know why you're here. You are the company of Thorin Oakenshield and you travel to the Lonely Mountain to claim back the city of Erebor from the dragon Smaug! I'm going to offer you a deal."

"I don't want your deal," Thorin snapped, but Bella raised her hand, shocking the entire Company and Thorin.

"Let's hear the king out Thorin," she said, looking into his icy blue eyes before turning back to the elf. "What do you propose?"

"Ahh, you care for negotiation. Very well; I offer you two deals. The first, I will offer you my aid and my followers' aid in exchange for the pure white gems of starlight that lie in that mountain."

Thorin immediately shouted his dislike of that deal, but it was Bella who spoke. "We will have to decline your first offer, oh King," she said, trying to be polite. Perhaps they could yet get out of here alive. "But I am particularly interested in your second deal." She felt that this second deal would involve her and be their ticket to getting out of the elven palace.

The king grinned a wicked grin. "12 hours with you, for the freedom of you and your companions." Thorin yelled and began cursing in khuzdal.

Bella was momentarily shocked but nodded her head. "Does that include Thorin?"

"Yes. All of you will go free," the king said.

Bella thought for a moment before nodding her head. She doubted the king's intentions were to bed her. More likely he wished to study her and learn more about her kind. The vibe she got from the elf, though cruel, was not one of malice and evil. No, he was more like a scholar; a deeply devoted scholar who went to many difficult means for the gift of knowledge. "I accept your offer as long as no harm comes to any of them."

"NO!" Thorin yelled, breaking free of the guards and was about to lurch forward when several more elves latched onto his arms.

"Then it is done," the king said as a sentinel came up from behind her and dragged her from the room. The last thing she saw before the doors closed was tears starting to leak from Thorin's eyes. That image would haunt her for the rest of her life.


	10. Barrels Out of Bond

**AN: Thranduil with be Out Of Character! Sorry but I really like his character. **

Chapter 10: Barrels out of Bond

Bella was terribly good at putting on a tough act, especially since she was practically trembling in fright as she was led to a room with a huge white door. The ceiling was high, and from it hung a magnificent golden chandelier which was lit up by fire. Torches lined the wall, casting the room in a warm light. The room was empty, save for a fine table crafted from wood that Bella had never seen the likes of before, and chairs of the same make with silk pillows on the seat. The guards left her alone, and she nervously walked over to sit on one of the chairs, careful to dust off the dirt on her clothes before she sat down on the fine pillow.

As she sat, her mind wandered to Thorin. She trusted the king enough to know that he wouldn't harm them, but she doubted that he would make Thorin aware of what he wanted with Bella. For the next twelve hours, Thorin would be unable to know what was happening to her; if she was being beaten, raped, tortured, or if she was fine at all. This ate away at her for well over a quarter of an hour until a sharp knock at the door startled her. The king walked in, followed by a few elves carrying trays of tea and food, which made her mouth shamefully water.

It was set on the table in front of her as the king sat across from her. The others were dismissed, and soon it was just the two of them. Bella couldn't help but fidget as the king's pale blue eyes roamed over her, surveying her as if she were a new object. As he judged her, she couldn't help but take in his rather magnificent self. His long white-blond hair looked like fine silk as it cascaded over his broad shoulders, the crown of gemmed branches shimmered in the fire-light. The sharp line of his jaw was impressive, though not as impressive as Thorin's. All in all, the king was a tremendous and terrifying figure, but she found herself intrigued by his physique.

After a long moment, the king gestured to the platter of food in front of her. "You may eat if you wish. I'm not ignorant to the fact that you are starving." Reaching over, she grabbed a biscuit and took a small bite, fighting back the moan that threatened to escape her as the flavor exploded in her mouth. Hunger is truly the best sauce.

"So, oh gracious king," she said, trying to be polite and keep any sarcasm out of her voice. "What is it that you wish to do in these twelve hours? Question me?"

The king nodded, much to her relief. "I enjoy gaining as much knowledge as I can about everything I can. Hobbits are something new to me, and I was rather hoping you could inform me all about your species. There will be some slightly personal questions too, but those won't come until later. Also, I plan to allow you to freshen up and change into clean, untorn clothes."

Bella was shocked. "You're too kind," she murmured softly, taking another bite of her biscuit. "The dwarves wee rude to you; however, you did have us kidnapped. Although, we were trespassing on your land, so it is understandable. I apologize for their behavior towards you, but still I ask: Why do you offer us such a boon?"

The king looked pleased at her comment. "I care little for dwarves, but I have a soft spot for women in need. Any creature that can grant new life is to be cherished. I hope before the morning comes that you could tell me why you travel continue to travel with the dwarves. The love that people have for dwarves is outside of my comprehension, and if you could explain to me your perspective, perhaps they wouldn't seem quite so terrible."

"Very well," Bella said, wondering where to start. "I suppose you view the dwarves as a greedy folk, motivated by gold and gems and jewels. Yet, this is not the case. They're more interested in aiding one another. They protect each other, and support one another, in order to achieve their goals. Dwarves look for a challenge. Living peacefully, in my understanding at least, is not something they enjoy. Understand that I may have interpreted them wrong, but I find that their courage, bravery, and self-sacrifice are amazing. They care for one another in ways that I can only hope to one day comprehend. It extends a blood bond. They're closer than brothers."

The king nodded. "You don't find their habits odd or improper?"

Bella laughed. "Oh yes, they are a very odd folk when it comes to cleanliness or feasting or any of that sort of stuff. They aren't dirty people though; they just enjoy nature in its truest form! Once one throws away the propriety of dining and living, one can enjoy the freedom that comes with living life to the fullest. The dwarves have more fun when dining than any other race I have ever had the privilege to encounter."

A humming noise came from the king's throat. "You're a very thought-invoking speaker, Mrs. Bella Baggins. Now, tell me all about hobbits."

So she told him. She discussed their meals, their feet, their houses, the shire, and the habits of hobbits. On and on she went to describe as much as she could and answer all of his questions. Many hours passed before he was finally satisfied that he knew as much about hobbits as he could.

"Thank you for all of that wonderful information," the king said thoughtfully. The door suddenly opened revealing a beautiful female elf with long brown hair, finely braided to keep the hair from her face. Her face was stunning with the sharp angles and emerald green eyes that shone brightly as she looked upon the king and hobbit. She was dressed in a radiant blue silk gown, with sleeves that billowed out by the hands.

"This is Tauriel, my dear Bella," the king said, standing up. Bella followed suit. "She is going to take you to the springs to bathe and will give you a change of clothes." The king excused himself, and Bella turned to Tauriel.

"Hello," she said somewhat shyly. The elf smiled down at her.

"Come," Tauriel said. "I'll show you to the springs and then I'll inform you about how your dwarves are faring. I just left them after insuring that they were all comfortable."

Bella's heart did a leap, and her thoughts darted immediately to Thorin as she was led down a few more hallways to a cavernous room. In the center of the room was a steaming hot springs that made Bella's knees grow weak at the sight. _Hot water!_ Tauriel sat on a chair not far away and set to work in mending some clothes that would fit the little hobbit.

Stripping down, Bella slipped into the hot water and groaned at the feeling. All the tension left her body as she soaked. Guilt immediately filled her as she enjoyed the hot springs. She didn't know if the dwarves were being treated this well, or if they were locked up in a cell somewhere. And then there was Thorin… who was left in the dark about what was happening to her.

"There are some soaps and lotions there on the side that you can use," Tauriel said. Wadding over, Bella smelt a few of the glass bottles and chose one that smelled like a field of fresh flowers that reminded her of the Shire. Pouring some in her hand, she scrubbed at her flesh until all the grime and dirt and blood was removed. She also washed her hair with the soap, but noticed that her hair was incredibly matted and knotted from the journey. The bandage on the wound Gollum gave her was quickly disposed of to reveal a large scar. She cringed until Tauriel handed a jar of something blue to her. "Place this on any scars you have. They'll be gone by tomorrow. After, I'll help you deal with your hair. "

As Bella wrapped her hands around the jar, she bowed her head slightly. "Thank you. You have no idea what this means to me." Tauriel smiled brightly.

The substance in the jar was cool and pleasant as she spread it over the wound from Gollum. She placed some on the other small scratches she had before placing the lid back on and sticking it on the side of the pool. Glancing over, she saw that Tauriel was holding a towel out for her. Bella wrapped her hands around the soft fabric and wrapped herself in it before sitting on a small chair that Tauriel indicated to. The elf immediately began coming through the ends of her hair, and probably using some magic, started unknotting her hair.

"The dwarves are all being cared for," Tauriel started. "They've been given the opportunity to eat, bathe and freshen up, and get a few hours rest. The king regrets that you won't get much of a chance to sleep, but he feels that the dwarves will stop and allow you to rest once you get out of this place. Your companions don't seem comfortable here, and we don't want to force them to remain here."

"How are they all?" Bella asked softly, her hands clutching the fabric of the towel.

Tauriel sighed softly, igniting Bella's fears. "They are all worried for your welfare. All of them seem to be under the impression that the king is doing unspeakable things to you. Several of the other guards and I tried to ensure that you were not going to be harmed, however, none of them really seemed to believe it except for the kind old one with you."

"That's Balin," Bella said thoughtfully, her insides churning unpleasantly. "How's Thorin?"

At this Tauriel paused her ministrations on her hair for a slight moment. "He is the most… concerned. It took all of the dwarves to help calm him down enough to clean up, but when I left, he was pacing and shouting nonsense in the dwarven language. The dwarf king is very distraught; he must truly care for you."

"I'd like to think so," Bella murmured softly. "I feel so terrible that I can't ease his fears."

Tauriel finished coming out her long hair and began to braid it in an elven fashion. "You will see him soon, and you will all be released. Though, I think that you all will have to leave in a rather unorthodox way."

"How so?" Bella asked curiously.

"Orcs and wargs were spotted outside our entrances. I'm not sure quite how the king is going to get you out, but it is going to be strange," Tauriel let out a small chuckle. "There, all done."

Reaching up, Bella softly placed her hands on her hair, and smiled up at the elf. "Thank you so much, for everything you've done not only for me, but for the Company."

"You're welcome," Tauriel murmured. "Now, let's go find your dwarves after you get changed."

The kind elf gave Bella the clothes that she had been tailoring, and she was pleased to see that it was a gorgeous (and warm!) brown travelling dress that went to her knees. With it was a pair of black leggings. She dressed quickly before accepting the cloak that Tauriel handed to her, which was black and lined with a fine fur.

The two left the cavern and walked down many passage ways until they came to a large wooden door that was guarded by three elves. At the sight of Tauriel, a relieved look passed over the guards' faces. "Thank goodness that you are here!" one elf said.

"The dwarf king is getting worked up again," another said.

Tauriel gestured to the door. "You may go in and have a few moments with them until King Thranduil comes to help you all leave." Bella nodded and thanked the woman. Placing her hand on the door knob, her stomach clenched when she heard Thorin shouting out in Khuzdul. Without wasting another second, she opened the heavy door, stepped inside, and shut it firmly behind her. Immediately, all the dwarves silenced and turned to the door, shock on all their faces.

"BELLA!" they all shouted, lurching forward, but Thorin stopped them. At the sight of his face, a small sob escaped her. Dried tear tracks covered his face and lingering pain still shone in his eyes as he looked her up and down, looking for any injuries or sign of harm. When he saw none, his icy blue eyes met hers before she was enveloped in a fierce hug.

"Thank Mahal you're alright," Thorin murmured into the top of her head. "Did that elvish scum harm you?"

"No! No, he was nothing but kind and courteous to me, Thorin," Bella said softly, cupping his face in her hands. "He just wanted to learn about hobbits; that's all."

An angry look crossed Thorin's face as he pulled away. "Why would you do that? Do you have any idea what he could have done to you? And I couldn't get to you! I was locked up in here, not knowing if he – if he…" Unable to finish the sentence, Thorin turned his head away from her. She was shocked to see tears forming in his eyes.

Gently, she wrapped him up in a hug from behind this time, her arms wrapped around his midsection as she laid her cheek on his back. Deep shudders came from his body as he fought back different emotions. "I knew he wasn't going to harm me," she whispered. "I'm sorry for worrying you, but I am ok now and we are going to get out of here."

Thorin turned around and placed a hot, feverish kiss upon her lips. Eyes closing, she kissed back fully. Electricity shot through her veins, her blood pumping double time. A loud cough caused them to jump apart, having realized that the other dwarves were still present. Turning, Bella addressed all of the company. She was pleased to see that all of them, including Thorin, were cleaned up magnificently.

Fili and Kili approached her and enveloped her in a three-way hug. "We were worried about you," Fili said as he pressed his temple against hers. Kili's was pressed against her other temple.

"You should probably be more careful the next time you worry Uncle like that," Kili said. "The poor elf guards looked terrified."

Bella chuckled softly, hugging them back just as hard. When they released, she was surprised when Dwalin came over and placed a hand on her shoulder in a friendly gesture. "I am grateful that you returned unharmed. I also would like to apologize for not excepting you as one of the Company until as of late."

"Thank you, Dwalin," she said, a grin spread wide across her face. After, she was approached by all the dwarves as they expressed their happiness and gratitude that she was alright. It was very shocking for her to be treated as if she too were a dwarf. Not long after, the door opened once again.

King Thranduil walked inside, looking positively regal as his robes billowed out behind him. Bella almost giggled when Thorin wrapped an arm around her waist protectively, but instead she wrapped hers around his waist, pulling him even closer. "Ah, I'm glad to see everything has worked out for the best here," the King said. "I shall take you to where you will depart. Your bags have been refilled and your weapons are with them."

Thorin nodded his thanks as the Company was led out of the room and deep inside the palace, confusing the dwarves and hobbit, but they did not say anything. Thorin kept his arm around her waist the entire time, and she rested her head against his arm as they walked. It felt perfect to be back with him and the company, and it was hard to keep the happy grin off of her face.

They were all lead down to a cellar where Bella was shocked to notice a bunch of empty barrels sitting on trapdoors. "I know this is not a very dignified method of getting out of here," the King said somewhat awkwardly. "However, all the conventional entrances are being heavily watched by orcs, so this is our only option unless you want to fight your way out; but not all of you will make it."

Everyone turned to Thorin, who grumbled: "No, we won't fight our way out; some of us are still exhausted."

"Very well," the King said, nodding. "Just climb into a barrel, hang on, and you may want to hold your breath."

The dwarves gasped. "We will be bruised and battered to pieces, and possibly drowned!"

"It is all I can do for you," the king said. He indicated to fourteen barrels. With lots of grumbling and cursing, all of the dwarves and the hobbit were stowed. Once everyone was situated, the elves bid them farewell as the ground dropped from beneath them one by one and they rumbled to the dark opening and into the icy water some feet below. Some barrels were actually empty; some were neatly packed with dwarves; but down they all went, one after another, with many a clash and a bump, thudding on top of ones below, smacking into the water, jostling against the walls of the tunnel, and bobbing away down the current.

On and on they floated down the river, pushing up against the shore and the rocks as they went. After many hours there was a mighty pushing of poles. The elves that were standing in the shallow water heaved and shoved. The barrels now all lashed together creaked and fretted.

"This is a heavy load!" some grumbled. "They float too deep – some of these are never empty. If they had come ashore in the daylight, we might have had a look inside."

"No time now!" cried the raftman. "Shove off!"

And off they went at last, slowly at first, until they had passed the point of rock where other elves stood to fend them off with poles, and then quicker and quicker as they caught the main stream and went sailing away down, down towards the Lake.


	11. A Warm Welcome

**AN: Thanks for all the lovely reviews! They make me so HAPPY!  
LOADS OF APOLOGIES ABOUT THIS CHAPTER! IT'S DULL AND BORING, BUT IT IS SADLY NECESSARY! **

Chapter 11: A Warm Welcome

The day grew lighter and warmer as they floated along. After a while the river rounded a steep shoulder of land that came down upon their left. Under its rocky feet like an inland cliff the deepest stream had flowed lapping and bubbling. Suddenly the cliff fell away. The shores sank. The trees ended.

The lands opened wide around them, filled with the waters of the river which broke up and wandered in a hundred winding courses, or halted in marshes and pools dotted with isles on every side; but still strong water flowed on steadily through the midst. And far away, its dark head in a torn cloud, there loomed the Mountain. Its nearest neighbors to the North-East and the tumbled land that joined it to them could not be seen. All alone it rose and looked across the marshes to the forest.

The river seemed to go on and on forever. After a while, the river took a more southerly course, and at last, late in the day the shores grew rocky, the river gathered all its wandering waters together into a deep and rapid flood, and they swept along at great speed.

The sun had set when turning with another sweep towards the East the forest-river rushed into the Long Lake. There it had a wide mouth with stony clifflike gates at either side whose feet were piled with shingles. It was so wide that the opposite shores looked small and far, but it was so long that its northerly end, which pointed towards the Mountain, could not be seen at all. The running river came down into the lake from Dale and with the Forest River filled with deep waters what must once have been a great deep rocky valley. At the southern end the doubled waters poured out again over high waterfalls and ran away hurriedly to unknown lands. In the still evening air the noise of the falls could be heard like a distant roar.

Not far from the mouth of the Forest River was the strange town. It was not built on the shore, though there were a few huts and buildings there, but right out on the surface of the lake, protected from the swirl of the entering river by a promontory of rock which formed a calm bay. A great bridge made of wood ran out to where on huge piles made of forest trees was built a busy wooden town of Men, who still dared to dwell here under the shadow of the distant dragon-inhabited mountain. They still throve on the trade that came up the great river from the South and was carted past the falls to their town; but in the great days of old, when Dale in the North was rich and prosperous, they had been wealthy and powerful, and there had been fleets on boats on the waters, and some were filled with gold and some with warriors in armor, and there had been wars and deed which were now only legend. The rotting piles of a greater town could still be seen along the shores where the waters sank in a drought.

As soon as the raft of barrels came in sight boats rowed out from the piles of the town, hailed the raft-steerers. Then ropes were cast and oars were pulled, and soon the raft was drawn out of the current of the Forest River and towed away round the high shoulder of rock into the little bay of Lake-town. There it was moored not far from the shoreward head of the great bridge. Soon men would come up from the South and take some of the casks away, and others would fill with goods they had brought to be taken back up the stream to the Wood-elves' home. In the meanwhile the barrels were left afloat while the elves of the raft and the boatmen went to feast in Lake-town.

Knowing that they were alone, Bella banged on her barrel to get the other's attention. She was battered and bruised, and knew that she would hardly be able to stand. Exhaustion made her limbs feel like lead, but she knew they needed to get out of the barrels. "Come on!" she shouted to the others. "Can anyone get out of their barrels?"

Reaching up, she tried hard to get the lid off of her barrel but to no avail. It was too stuck for her to possibly remove it. Thankfully, she heard Thorin getting out of his barrel, and several others. Groans came from outside and inside the barrels, as the unhappy dwarves were leaving the barrels. Bella looked up at the lid and waited for a few minutes until someone yanked it off, and she looked up into the exhausted, sopping wet face of Thorin. A small, tired grin made its way on to his face as he reached in and pulled her from the barrel. When he set her on her feet, she would have fallen over if not for him having caught her.

"Sorry," she groaned, hanging onto his arm to keep upright. "I haven't slept in several days."

"That's alright," Thorin murmured softly. "I don't mind having to hang on to you." Even in her exhausted state, she still managed to blush at this.

Looking over, all the dwarves were all unpacked from the barrels and being helped ashore where they sat or lay muttering and moaning; they were so soaked and bruised and cramped that they could hardly yet realize their release or be properly thankful for it.

"I hope I never smell the smell of apples again!" Fili said. "My tub was full of it. To smell apples everlastingly when you can scarcely move and are cold and sick with hunger is maddening. I could eat anything in the world now, for hours on end – but not an apple!"

"What next?" asked Dori, shaking out his dripping hair.

"Lake-town," said Thorin. "What else is there? We need food and rest."

Nothing else could, of course, be suggested; so leaving the others Thorin and Fili and Kili and Bella went along the shore to the great bridge. Thorin, though exhausted himself, was required to hold a fair bit of Bella's weight (thankfully she was rather light) since she was so tired. But she wouldn't hear of being left behind with the others.

There were guards at the head of the bridge, but they were not keeping careful watch, for it was so long since there had been any real need. Except for occasional squabbles about river-tolls they were friends with the Wood-elves. Other folk were far away; and some of the younger people in the town openly doubted the existence of any dragon in the mountain, and laughed at the greybeards and gammers who said that they had seen him flying in the sky in their younger days. That being so it is not surprising that the guards were drinking and laughing by a fire in their hut, and did not hear the noise of the unpacking dwarves or the footsteps of the four scouts. Their astonishment was enormous when Thorin Oakenshield stepped in through the door.

"Who are you and what do you want?" they shouted leaping to their feet and groping for weapons.

"Thorin son of Thrain son of Thror King under the Mountain!" said Thorin in a loud voice, and he looked it, in spite of his torn clothes and draggled hood. The gold gleamed on his neck and waist; his eyes dark and deep. "I have come back. I wish to see the Master of your town."

Then there was a tremendous excitement. Some of the more foolish ran out of the hut as if they expected the Mountain to go golden in the night and all the waters of the lake turn yellow right away. The captain of the guard came forward.

"And who are these?" he asked, pointing to Fili, Kili, and Bella.

"The sons of my father's daughter," answered Thorin, "Fili and Kili of the race of Durin, and Ms. Baggins who has travelled with us from the West.

"If you have come in peace lay down your arms!" said the captain.

"We have none," said Thorin, and it was true enough; they had left all their weapons with the other dwarves. Bella had her sword hidden but she said nothing about it. "We have no need of weapons, who return at last to our own as spoken of old. Nor could we fight against so many. Take us to your master!"

"He is at feast," said the captain.

"Then all the more reason for taking us to him," burst in Fili, who was getting impatient at these solemnities. "We are worn and famished after our long road and we have sick comrades. Now make haste and let us have no more words, or your master may have something to say to you."

"Follow me then," said the captain, and with six men about them he led them over the bridge through the gates and into the market-place of the town. This was a wide circle of quiet water surrounded by the tall piles on which were built the greater houses, and by long wooden quays with many steps and ladders, going down to the surface of the lake. From one great hall shone many lights and there came the sound of many voices. They passed its doors and stood blinking in the light looking at the long tables filled with folk.

"I am Thorin son of Thrain son of Thror King under the Mountain!" cried Thorin, startling poor Bella as she hugged his arm to help her remain standing.

All leaped to their feet. The Master of the town sprang from his great chair. The news had spread from the doors of the hall like fire through all the town. People were shouting inside the hall and outside it. The quays were thronged with hurrying feet.

The Master gave up his great chair to Thorin, and next to him on one side sat Fili and Kili, and then on his other side sat Bella. Soon afterwards the other dwarves were brought into the town amid scenes of astonishing enthusiasm. They were all doctored and fed and housed and pampered in the most delightful and satisfactory fashion. Even Bella, Thorin, Fili, and Kili had their wounds tended to. A large house was given up to Thorin and his company; boats and rowers were put at their service; and crowds sat outside and sang songs all day; or cheered if any dwarf showed so much as his nose.

Some of the songs were old ones; but some of them were quite new and spoke confidently of the sudden death of the dragon and the cargoes of rich presents coming down the river to Lake-town. These were inspired largely by the Master and they did not particularly please the dwarves, but in the meantime they were well contented and they quickly replaced all their lost weight and muscle.

One whole week was devoted to recovery, being fitted out in fine cloth of their proper colors, having hair and beards combed and trimmed, and proud steps. Thorin looked as if his kingdom was already regained and Smaug chopped up into little pieces.

Bella's first three days were spent mostly in bed with a cold that she'd caught from all the exhaustion and chilly weather. And throughout the entire week, she hardly saw Thorin; let alone got the chance to speak with him alone.

At the end of a fortnight Thorin began to think of departure. While the enthusiasm still lasted in the town was the time to get help. It would not do to let everything cool down with delay. So he spoke to the Master and his councilors and said that soon he and his company must go on towards the Mountain.

Then for the first time the Master was surprised and a little frightened; and he wondered if Thorin was after all really a descendant of the old kings. He had never thought that the dwarves would actually dare to approach Smaug, but believed they were frauds who would sooner or later be discovered and be turned out. He was wrong. Thorin, of course, was really the grandson of the King under the Mountain, and there is no knowing what a dwarf will not dare and do for revenge or the recovery of his own.

But the Master was not sorry at all to let them go. They were expensive to keep, and their arrival had turned things into a long holiday in which business was at a standstill. "Let them go and bother Smaug, and see how he welcomes them!" he thought. "Certainly, O Thorin Thrain's son Thror's son!" was what he said. "You must claim your own. The hour is at hand, spoken of old. What help we can offer shall be yours, and we trust to your gratitude when your kingdom is regained."

So one day, although autumn was no getting farther on, and winds were cold, and leaves were falling fast, three large boats left Lake-town, laden with rowers, dwarves, Ms. Baggins, and many provisions. Horses and ponies had been sent round by circuitous paths to meet them at their appointed landing place. The Master and his councilors bade them farewell from the great steps of the town-hall that went down to the lake. People sang on the quays and out of windows. The white oars dipped and splashed, and off they went north up the lake on the last stage of their journey.


	12. On the Doorstep

**AN: So sorry, another dull and boring chapter awaits. No action here. But yet, it is still a necessary one. Don't worry, after this, things start escalating quickly! Thanks for your patience! **

Chapter 12: On the Doorstep

In two days going they rowed right up the Long Lake and passed out into the River Running, and now they could all see the Lonely Mountain towering grim and tall before them. The stream was strong and their going slow. At the end of the third day, some miles up the river, they drew in to the left or western bank and disembarked. Here they were joined by the horses with other provisions and necessaries and the ponies for their own use that had been sent to meet them. They packed what they could on the ponies and the rest was made into a store under a tent, but none of the men of the town would stay with them for even a night so near the shadow of the Mountain.

"Not at any rate until the songs have come true!" said they. It was easier to believe in the Dragon and less easy to believe in Thorin in these wild parts. Indeed their stores had no need of any guard, for all the land was desolate and empty. So their escorts left them, making off swiftly down the river and the shoreward paths, although the night was already drawing on.

They spent a cold and lonely night and their spirits fell. The next day they set out again. Balin and Bella rode behind, each leading another pony heavily laden beside them; the others were some way ahead picking out a slow road, for there were no paths. They made north-west, slanting away from the River Running, and drawing ever nearer and nearer to a great spur of the Mountain that was flung out southwards towards them.

It was a weary journey, and a quiet and stealthy one. There was no laughter or song or sound of harps, and the pride and the hopes which had stirred in their hearts at the singing of old songs by the lake died away to the plodding gloom. They knew that they were drawing near to the end of their journey, and that it might have a very horrible end. The land about them grew bleak and barren, though once, as Thorin told them, it had been green and fair. For the long hours of the day, Bella's mind wandered in bad directions: thinking about the Dragon-Sickness, the connection between Thorin and her ending when he became king, the Dragon that awaited them…

They were come to the Desolation of the Dragon, and they were come at the waning of the year.

They reached the skirts of the Mountain all the same without meeting any danger or any sign of the Dragon other than the wilderness he had made about his lair. The Mountain lay dark and silent before them and even higher above them. They made their first camp on the western side of the great southern spur, which ended in a height called Ravenhill. On this there had been an old watch-post; but they dared not climb it yet, it was too exposed.

Before setting out to search the western spurs of the Mountain for the hidden door, on which all their hopes rested, Thorin sent out a scouting expedition to spy out the land to the South where the Front Gate. For this purpose, he chose Balin and Fili and Kili, and with them went Bella who refused to be left behind. They marched under the grey and silent cliffs to the feet of Ravenhill. There the river, after winding a wide loop over the valley of Dale, turned from the Mountain on its road to the Lake, flowing swift and noisily. Its bank was bare and rocky, tall and steep above the stream; and gazing out from it over the narrow water, foaming and splashing among many boulders, they could see in the wide valley shadowed by the Mountain's arms the grey ruins of ancient houses, towers, and walls.

"There lies all that is left of Dale," said Balin. "The mountain's sides were green with woods and all the sheltered valley rich and pleasant in the days when the bells rang in that town." He looked both sad and grim as he said this: he had been one of Thorin's companions on the day the Dragon came. Bella was unable to stem the sorrow that filled her as she took in the destruction of the old town. Sadness also overcame her as of late, because even though she was around Thorin all the time, she'd never felt so apart from him.

They did not dare to follow the river much further towards the Gate; but they went on beyond the end of the southern spur, until lying hidden behind a rock they could look out and see the dark cavernous opening in a great cliff-wall between the arms of the Mountain. Out of it the waters of the Running River sprang; and out of it too there came a steam and a dark smoke. Nothing moved in the waste, save the vapor and the water, and every now and again a black and ominous crow. The only sound was the sound of the stony water, and every now and again the harsh croak of a bird. Balin shuddered.

"Let us return!" he said. "We can do no good here! And I don't lie these dark birds, they look like spies of evil."

"The dragon is still alive," Bella murmured, "and in the halls under the Mountain – or I imagine so from the smoke."

"That does not prove it," said Balin, "though I don't doubt you are right. But he might be gone away some time, or he might be lying out on the mountain side keeping watch, and still I expect smokes and steams would come out of the gates; all the halls within must be filled with his foul reek."

With such gloomy thoughts, followed ever by croaking crows above them, they made their weary way back to the camp. Only in June they had been guests at the fair house of Elrond, and though autumn was now crawling towards winter that pleasant time now seemed years ago. They were alone in the perilous waste without hope of further help. They were at the end of their journey, but as far as ever, it seemed, from the end of their quest. None of them had much spirit left.

All except Bella. She would often borrow Thorin's map and gaze at it, pondering over the runes and the message of the moon-letters that Elrond had read. It was she that made the dwarves begin the dangerous search on the western slopes for the secret door. They moved their camp then to a long valley, narrower than the great dale in the South where the Gates of the river stood, and walled with lower spurs of the Mountain. Two of these here thrust forward west from the main mass in long steep-sided ridges that fell ever downwards towards the plain. On this western side there were fewer signs of the dragon's marauding feet, and there was some grass for their ponies. From this western camp, shadowed all day by cliff and wall until the sun began to sink towards the forest, day by day they toiled in parties searching for paths up the mountainside. If the map was true, somewhere high above the cliff at the valley's head must stand the secret door. Day by day they came back to camp without success.

But at last unexpectedly they found what they were seeking. Fili and Kili and Bella went back one day down the valley and scrambled among the tumbled rocks at its southern corner. About midday, creeping behind a great stone that stood alone like a pillar, Bella came on what looked like rough steps going upwards. Following these excitedly she and the dwarves found traces of a narrow track, often lost, often rediscovered, that wandered on to the top of the southern ridge and brought them at last to a still narrower ledge, which turned north across the face of the Mountain. Looking down they saw that they were at the top of the cliff at the valley's head and were gazing down on their own camp below, Silently, clinging to the rocky wall on their right, they went in single file along the ledge, till the wall opened and they tuned into a little steep-walled bay, grassy-floored, still and quiet. Its entrance which they had found could not be seen from below because of the overhang of the cliff, nor from further off because it was so small that it looked like a dark crack and no more. It was not a cave and was open to the sky above, but at its inner end a flat wall rose up that in the lower part, close to the ground, was as smooth and upright as masons' work, but without a joint or crevice to be seen. No sign was there of post or lintel or threshold, nor any sign of a bar or bolt or key-hole; yet they did not doubt that they had found the door at last.

They beat on it, they thrust and pushed at it, they implored it to move, they spoke fragments of broken spells of opening, and nothing stirred. At last tired out they rested on the grass at its feet, and then at evening began their long climb down.

There was excitement in the camp that night. In the morning they were prepared to move once more. Only Bombur and Bofur were left behind to guard the ponies and such stores as they had brought with them from the river. The others went down the valley and up the newly found path, and so to the narrow ledge. Along this they could carry no bundles or packs, so narrow and breathless was it, with a fall of a hundred and fifty feet beside them on to sharp rocks below; but each of them took a good coil of rope wound tight around their waists, and so at last without mishap they reached the little grassy bay.

There they made their third camp, hauling up what they needed from below with their ropes. Down the same way they were able occasionally to lower one of the more active dwarves, such as Kili, to exchange such news as there was, or to take a share in the guard below, while Bofur was hauled up to the higher camp. Bombur would not come up either the rope or the path.

"I am too fat for such fly-walks," he said. "I should turn dizzy and tread on my bear, and they you would be thirteen again. And the knotted ropes are too slender for my weight."

In the meanwhile some of them explored the ledge beyond the opening and found a path that led higher and higher on to the mountain; but they did not dare to venture very far that way, nor was there much use in it. Out up there a silence reigned, broken by no bird or sound except that of the wind in the crannies of stone. They spoke low and never called or sang, for danger brooded in every rock. The others who were busy with the secret of the door had no more success. They were too eager to trouble about the runes or the moon-letters, but tried without resting to discover where exactly in the smooth face of the rock the door was hidden. They had brought picks and tools of many sorts from Lake-town, and at first they tried to use these. But when they struck the stone the handles splintered and jarred their arms cruelly, and the steel heads broke or bent like lead. Mining work, they saw clearly, was no good against the magic that had shut this door; and they grew terrified, too, of the echoing noise.

Bella found sitting on the doorstep lonesome and wearisome – there was not a doorstep, of course, really, but they began to call the little grassy space between the wall and the opening the "doorstep." Thorin had been growing increasingly frustrated as of late, and Bella was brushed off when she tried to speak with him. The others looked at her with sympathy, even Dwalin, but it did nothing to ease her worries. Already Bella could see the difference in Thorin growing as he remained solely focused on the treasure within. Yet, all they could do was sitting and thinking, or wandering around aimlessly.

Their spirits had risen a little at the discovery of the path, but now they sank into their boots; and yet they would not give it up and go away. The hobbit was no longer much brighter than the dwarves. She would do nothing but sit with her back to the rock and stare away west through the opening, over the cliff, and to the land beyond while thinking about Thorin and their current predicament. A type of depression seemed to settle over her, along with many others of the company.

"Tomorrow begins the last week of autumn," said Thorin one day.

"And winter comes after autumn," said Bigur.

"And next year after that," said Bombur, "and our beards will grow till they hang down the cliff to the valley before anything happens here. What is our burglar doing for us? Since she had got an invisible ring, and ought to be a specially excellent performer now, I am beginning to think she might go through the Front Gate and spy things out a bit."

Bella heard this – the dwarves were on the rocks just above the enclosure where she was sitting, and she assumed that they didn't know she was listening. Funny part was, Bella was beginning to think the same thing as Bombur. Perhaps if she used the ring, she could be useful. Deciding not to listen to the rest of their conversation, she tuned them out and went back to her thoughts.

That night she didn't sleep very well. Tossing and turning, she could not get comfortable, and for much of the night, she could feel Thorin's intent gaze on her. Not once did she glance at him.

The next day the dwarves all went wandering off in various directions; some were exercising the ponies down below, some were roving around about the mountainside. All day Bella sat gloomily in the grassy bay gazing at the stone, or out west through the narrow opening. She had a queer feeling that she was waiting for something. "Perhaps Gandalf will suddenly come back today," she thought.

If she lifted her head she could see a glimpse of the distant forest. As the sun turned west there was a gleam of yellow upon its far roof, as if the light caught the last pale leaves. Soon she saw the orange ball of the sun sinking towards the level of her eyes. She went to the opening and there pale and faint was a thin new moon above the rim of the Earth.

At that very moment she heard a sharp crack behind her. There on the grey stone in the grass was an enormous thrush, nearly coal black, its pale yellow breast freckled with dark spots. Crack! Crack! It had caught a snail and was knocking it on the stone. Crack!

Suddenly Bella understood. Forgetting all the danger she stood on the ledge and hailed the dwarves, shouting and waving. Those that were nearest came tumbling over the rocks and as fast as they could along the ledge to her, wondering what on earth was the matter, the others shouted to be hauled up the ropes (except Bombur, of course; he was fast asleep).

Quickly Bella explained. They all fell silent; the hobbit standing by the grey stone, and the dwarves with wagging beards watching impatiently. The sun sank lower and lower, and their hopes fell. It sank into a belt of reddened cloud and disappeared. The dwarves groaned, but still Bella stood almost without moving. The little moon was dipping to the horizon. Evening was coming on. Then suddenly when their hope was lowest a red ray of the sun escaped like a finger through a rent in the cloud. A gleam of light came straight through the opening into the bay and fell on the smooth rock-face. The old thrush, who had been watching from a high perch with beady eyes and head cocked on one side, gave a sudden trill. There was a loud crack. A flake of rock split from the wall and fell. A hole appeared suddenly about three feet from the ground.

Quickly, trembling lest the chance should fade, the dwarves rushed to the rock and pushed – in vain.

"The key! The key!" cried Bella. "Where is the key?"

Thorin stepped up and drew the key on its chain from round his neck. He put it to the hole. It fitted and it turned! Snap! The gleam went out, the sun sank, the moon was gone, and evening sprang into the sky. Now they all pushed together, and slowly a part of the rock-wall gave way. Long straight cracks appeared and widened. A door five feet high and three broad was outlined, and slowly without a sound swung inwards. It seemed as if darkness flowed out like a vapor from the hole in the mountain-side, and deep darkness in which nothing could be seen lay before their eyes, a yawning mouth leading in and down.


	13. Into the Dragon's Keep

**AN: This is a very choppy chapter and very short! I'm so deeply sorry, and especially because it took so long for something so unsatisfactory. My word docs weren't working so i had to take my computer in to get fixed. Don't worry though, the next chapter is well on its way and should be up tomorrow and it will be longer! Sorry, and thanks for you patience with me!**

Chapter 13: Into the Dragon's Keep

For a long time the dwarves and the hobbit stood in the dark before the door and debated, until at last Bella spoke:

"This is my purpose; the whole reason I was called by Gandalf to go on this adventure. I have gotten you all out of a few messes already, and this will be one more to add to the list. I will go and have a peep at once and get it over."

Objections immediately came from a fair few of the dwarves, Fili, Kili, and Thorin being the loudest. "Nonsense! We cannot send you down there to face the dragon on your own!" Fili shouted, moving to stand between her and the door.

"He'll swallow you whole the moment he lays an eye on you!" Kili stated, moving to stand behind his brother.

"It is simply out of the question," Thorin said firmly, protectiveness shining in his icy blue orbs. "I refuse to allow you to enter that mountain while the dragon inhabits it."

"Now Thorin," Bella started, reaching forward and gently wrapping her hand around his. "You mustn't be so stubborn! I have a ring that can make me invisible, and I am the quietest one out of all of the company. I am the only one who can, and the only one who is going to go down. Please let me help you by doing this."

After much debate, the dwarves finally conceded to allow Bella to enter the mountain, but they were only giving her until sunrise before they came in after her.

OOOOOOOOOO

The stars were coming out behind her in a pale sky barred with black when the hobbit crept through the enchanted door and stole into the Mountain. It was far easier going that she expected. This was no goblin entrance, or rough wood-elves' cave. It was a passage made by dwarves, at the height of their wealth and skill: straight as a ruler, smooth-floored and smooth-sided, going with a gentle never-varying slope direct – to some distant end in the blackness below.

After a while she slipped on her ring and slipped noiselessly down, down into the dark. She couldn't help the slight tremble of fear that ran through her, but then she moved her thoughts to Thorin and the purpose of which she was doing this dangerous act. With her little face set and grim, she loosed her dagger in its sheath, tightened her belt, and went on.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Now you are in for it at last, Bella Baggins," she thought to herself. The Tookish part of her loved the idea of this grand adventure that lay ahead of her, but the small bit of her that was Baggins was nervous about the dragon that was no doubt waiting for her deeper in the Mountain.

After a fair while of walking, she thought it was beginning to feel warm. "Is that a kind of glow I seem to see coming right ahead down there?" she thought.

It was. As she went forward it grew and grew, till there was no doubt about it. It was a red light steadily getting redder and redder. Also it was now undoubtedly hot in the tunnel. Wisps of vapor floated up and past her and she began to sweat. A sound, too, began to throb in her ears, a sort of bubbling like noise of a large pot galloping on the fire, mixed with a rumble as of a gigantic tom-cat purring. This grew to the unmistakable gurgling noise of some vast animal snoring in its sleep down there in the red glow in front of her.

It was at this point that Bella stopped. Going on from there was the bravest thing she ever did (well, perhaps just slightly more brave than willingly getting chased by a pack of Wargs to save her comrades). After a while she came to the end of the tunnel, an opening of much the same size and shape as the doors above. Through it peeped the hobbit's little head. Before her lied the great bottommost cellar or dungeon-hall of the ancient dwarves right at the Mountain's root. It was almost dark so that its vastness could only be dimly guessed, but rising from the near side of the rocky floor there was a great glow. The glow of Smaug!

There he lay, a vast red-golden dragon, fast asleep; a thrumming came from his jaws and nostrils, and wisps of smoke, but his fires were low in slumber. Beneath him, under all his limbs and his huge coiled tail, and about him on all sides stretching away across the unseen floors, lay countless piles of precious things, gold wrought and unwrought, gems and jewels, and silver red-stained in the ruddy light.

Smaug lay, with wings folded like an immeasurable bat, turned partly on one side, so that the hobbit could see his long pale belly crusted with gems and fragments of gold from his long lying on his costly bed. Behind him where the walls were nearest could dimly be seen coats of mail, helms and axes, swords and spears hanging; and there in rows stood great jars and vessels filled with a wealth that could not be guessed.

To say that Bella's breath was taken away is no description at all. She had heard tell and sing of the dragon-hoards before, but the splendor, the lust, the glory of such treasure had never yet come home to her. But her heart found no pleasure in the wealth of the Mountain, and felt worried about what Thorin would be like when he claimed back Erebor. She was also worried about the tremendous monster that lay sleeping before her.

OOOOOOOOOO

She gazed for what seemed an age, before drawn almost against her will; she stole from the shadow of the doorway, across the floor to the nearest edge of the mounds of treasure. Above her the sleeping dragon laid, a dire menace even in his sleep. She took a closer look at the dragon, but jumped when he stirred a wing, opened a claw, and the rumble of his snoring changed a note.

Then Bella fled. But the dragon did not wake, but shifted into other dreams of greed and violence, lying there in the stolen hall while the little hobbit toiled up the long tunnel. Her heart was beating and a more fevered shaking was in her legs. The dragon's size alone was enough to strike fear into the heart of any hobbit, but it was not what had left her in such a stricken state. No; just by being down there she could feel the pull of the gold, and knew that Thorin was going to feel that pull a thousand times stronger. Fear for her dwarf shot through her with every pulse, filling every fiber of her being. Somehow, she had to make sure Thorin did not fall victim to the dragon-sickness.

OOOOOOOOOOO

It was not long before Bella emerged through the door and out into the open air. It was midnight and clouds had covered the stars, but Bella immediately hit the ground hard with her knees when she was through the opening, the adrenaline leaving her system. Her limbs felt like they were filled with lead, holding her down in this position as she inhaled the crisp fresh air. Vaguely, she was aware of the excited dwarves surrounding her, and Thorin who was kneeling next to her with a hand on her face. The dwarves praised her for her efforts as she retold what she saw with a shaky voice. The fear in her began to die down a little as Thorin kept her pressed up against him as she spoke. That was; until instead of asking her how she was faring or thanking her for venturing into the mountain, Thorin said: "Tell me more about the gold."

An icy cold dagger struck her heart then, and she suddenly felt as if she were drowning. The dragon-sickness was already starting.


	14. Inside Information

Chapter 14: Inside Information

The dwarves were still talking delightedly of the progress made that day, when suddenly a vast rumbling woke in the mountain underneath as if it was a volcano that had made up its mind to start eruptions once again. The door behind them was pulled nearly to, and blocked from closing with a stone, but up the long tunnel came dreadful echoes, from far down in the depths, of a bellowing and trampling that made the ground beneath them tremble.

Then the dwarves forgot their joy and their confident boasts of a moment before and cowered down in fright. Smaug was still to be reckoned with. It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him. Dragons may not have much real use for all their wealth, but they know it to an ounce as a rule, especially after long possession. He had passed from an uneasy dream to a doze and from a doze to a wide waking. There was a breath of strange air in his cave. Could there be a draught from that little hole? He had never felt quite happy about it, though it was so small, and now he glared at it in suspicion and wondered why he had never blocked it up. Of late he had half fancied he had caught the dim echoes of knocking sounds from far above that came down through it to his lair. He stirred and stretched forth his neck to sniff. Someone had been in his cave!

Thieves! Fire! Murder! Such a thing had not happened since he first came to the Mountains! His rage passes description – the sort of rage that is only seen when rich folk that have more than they can enjoy find out that they cannot have their way. His fire belched forth, the hall smoked, he shook the mountain-roots. He thrust his head in vain at the little hole, and then coiling his length together, roaring like thunder underground, he sped from his deep lair through its great door, out into the huge passages of the mountain-palace and up towards the Front Gate.

To hunt the whole mountain till he had caught the being that dared to enter his cave and had torn and trampled him was his one thought. He issued from the Gate, the waters rose in fierce whistling steam, and up he soared blazing into the air and settled on the mountain-top in a spout of green and scarlet flame. The dwarves heard the awful rumor of his flight, and they crouched against the walls of the grassy terrace cringing under boulders, hoping somehow to escape the frightful eyes of the hunting dragon.

"Quick! Quick!" Bella gasped. "The door! Everyone into the Mountain1"

Roused by these words they were just about to creep inside the tunnel when Bifur gave a cry: "My cousins! Bombur and Bofur – we have forgotten them, they are down in the valley!"

"They will be slain, and all our ponies too, and all our stores lost," moaned the others. "We can do nothing."

"Nonsense!" said Thorin fiercely. "We cannot leave them. Get inside Bella and Balin, and you too Fili and Kili – the dragon won't have all of us. Now you others, where are the ropes? Be quick!"

Bella was about to protest, when Fili and Kili grabbed her arms. "Do as he says," said Fili.

"He'll be alright," added Kili. "I pity the dragon if it tries to take on Uncle."

Consenting, she allowed herself to be half dragged back into the mountain, Balin following swiftly behind them after wishing good luck to Dwalin behind him.

Those were perhaps the worst moments they had been through yet. The horrible sounds of Smaug's anger were echoing in the stony hollows far above; at any moment he might come blazing down or fly whirling round and find them, near the perilous cliff's edge hauling madly on the ropes. Up came Bofur, and still all was safe. Up came Bombur, puffing and blowing while the ropes creaked, and still all was safe. Up came some tools and bundles of stores, and then danger was upon them.

A whirring noise was heard. A red light touched the points of the standing rocks. The dragon came.

They had barely time to fly back to the tunnel, pulling and dragging in their bundles, when Smaug came hurtling from the North, licking the mountainsides with flame, beating his great wings with a noise like a roaring wind. His hot breath shriveled the grass before the door; and drove in through the crack they had left and scorched them as they lay hid. Flickering fires leaped up and black rock-shadows danced. Then darkness fell as he passed again. The ponies screamed with terror, burst their ropes and galloped wildly off. The dragon swooped and turned to pursue them, and was gone.

"That'll be the end of those poor beasts!" said Ori as he watched the ponies race off with wide eyes. The dwarves walked down the tunnel, and finally met up with Balin, Fili, Kili, and Bella.

When Bella caught sight of Thorin unharmed, she lurched towards him, but stopped herself. He wasn't even looking at her; he was gazing down the hallway with a strange sort of hunger that seemed to emanate from him. Her eyes suddenly felt wet as they glistened with tears.

"You!" Dwalin said, anger suddenly directed at Bella as he approached her swiftly, his massive form blocking out the others. Shock froze her in place at the fire glowing in his brown eyes. "You woke the dragon! You were supposed to be silent and check things out, not wake the bloody beast!" The dwarf was all but yelling at her, causing her to shrink away. Several of the dwarrows agreed with fierce shouts, while Fili, Kili, and Balin tried to argue on her behalf.

"He's right, you know," Dori added. "You haven't done much but hinder us on this trip; women have no place amo-" A large fist seized Dori by the front of his cloak, cutting the older dwarf off mid-sentence. Bella watched in shock as Thorin put his face close to Dori's and hissed at him.

"You and Dwalin will watch your tongues. Laying the blame on the hobbit will achieve nothing. None of us could have entered any quieter, so stop your senseless arguing!" Thorin threatened, before turning a ferocious glare on a sheepish Dwalin.

Dwalin shook his head before turning to her. "My apologies, Bella. I fear that I'm not quite myself with all the stress."

Bella nodded her head and gave him a small smile. "It's perfectly fine, Dwalin. I did wake the dragon, but there was no way I could have been any quieter. What's done is done though, and we can only do forward from here." A tiny flicker of hope sparked in her chest; her Thorin was still in there, somewhere.

"So what do you suppose we do now?" Bofur asked, tilting his head as he directed the question to Bella and Thorin.

"I have no idea at the moment – if you mean about removing the treasure. That obviously depends entirely on some new turn of luck and getting rid of Smaug. Getting rid of dragons is not at all in my line, but I will do my best to think about it," she replied softly. "Perhaps it would be best to remain here where we are. By day we can no doubt creep out safely enough to take the air. Perhaps before long one or two could be chosen to go back to the store by the river and replenish our supplies. But in the meanwhile everyone ought to be well inside the tunnel by night."

"But what are we to do about the dragon?" Bombur asked.

Thorin looked thoughtful for a moment. "There is a weak spot to every creature, and all we need to do is find it."

"I will creep down there myself, I think," Bella said. "I've got my ring and my nerve, and I could head down to see what Smaug is up to. Perhaps something will turn up."

Thorin immediately objected. "We've already risked you once with the great beast and I will not have you go down again. We can send one of the others."

Bella shook her head. "No way Thorin! I'm quieter and a good deal lighter on my feet than the rest of you. Plus, with my ring I shall not be seen. You cannot fight me on this."

No more was said on the matter. When midday came she got ready for another journey down into the Mountain. She did not like it of course, but it was not so bad now she knew, more or less, what was in front of her. She knew very well that the dragon would not be asleep when she found him, but she still wanted to find out if the giant lizard had an Achilles' heel.

The sun was shining when she started, but it was as dark as night in the tunnel. The light from the door, almost closed, soon faded as she went down. So silent was her going that smoke on a gentle wind could hardly have surpassed it, and she was inclined to feel a bit proud of herself as she drew near the lower door. There was only the very faintest glow to be seen.

"Old Smaug just might be asleep," she thought hopefully. "He can't see me and he won't hear me. Cheer up Bella!" She knew that dragons also had a wicked sense of smell, so she'd need to be careful.

Smaug certainly looked fast asleep, almost dead and dark, with scarcely a snore more than a whiff of unseen steam, when Bella peeped once more from the entrance. She was just about to step out on to the floor when she caught a sudden thin and piercing ray of red from under the drooping lid of Smaug's left eye. He was only pretending to be asleep! He was watching the tunnel entrance. Hurriedly Bella stepped back and blessed the luck of her ring. Then Smaug spoke.

"Well, thief! I smell you and I feel your air. I hear your breath. Come along! Help yourself to my treasure, there is plenty and to spare."

But Bella was not quite so easy to trick, and if Smaug hoped to get her to come nearer so easily he was disappointed. "No thank you, O Smaug the Tremendous!" she replied loudly. Thinking quickly, she decided flattery might be the key to getting herself out of here alive. "I did not come for your possessions. I only wished to have a look at you and see if you were truly as great as tales say. I did not believe them."

"Do you now?" said the dragon somewhat flattered, even though he did not believe a word of it.

"Truly songs and tales fall utterly short of the reality, O Smaug the Chiefest and Greatest of Calamities," replied Bella.

"You have nice manners for a thief and a liar," said the dragon. "You seem familiar with my name, but I don't seem to remember smelling you before. Who are you and where do you come from, may I ask? Two legged females are a whole new thing for me, as men were always the ones to confront me, so it is fascinating that it would be a female who meets me now."

"You may indeed! I come from under the hill, and under the hills and over the hills my paths led. And through the air. I am she that walks unseed."

"So I can well believe," said Smaug, "but that is hardly your usual name."

"I am the clue-finder, the web-cutter, the stinging fly. I was chosen for the lucky number."

"Lovely titles!" sneered the dragon. "But lucky numbers don't always come off."

"I am she that buries her friends alive and drowns them and draws them alive again from the water. I came from the end of a bag, but no bag went over me."

"These don't sound so credible," scoffed Smaug.

"I am the friend of bears and the guest of eagles. I am Ringwinner and Luckwearer; and I am Barrelrider," went on Bella beginning to be pleased with her riddling. "Friend of the pale haired."

"That's better!" said Smaug. "But don't let your imagination run away with you! Very well, O Barrelrider! Maybe Barrel was your pony's name; and maybe not, though it was fat enough. You may walk unseen, but you did not walk all the way. Let me tell you I ate six ponies last night and I shall catch and eat all the others before long. In return for the excellent meal I will give you one piece of advice for your good: don't have more to do with dwarves than you can help!"

"Dwarves!" said Bella in pretend surprise.

"Don't talk to me!" said Smaug. "I know the smell of dwarf – no one better. Don't tell me that I can eat a dwarf-ridden pony and not know it! You'll come to bad end, if you go with such friends, Lady Barrelrider. I don't mind if you go back and tell them so from me." But he did not tell Bilbo that there was one smell he could not make out at all, hobbit-smell; it was quite outside his experience and puzzled him mightily.

"And I suppose they are sulking outside, and your job is to do all the dangerous work and get what you can when I'm not looking – for them? And you will get a fair share? Don't you believe it! If you get off alive, you will be lucky. Dwarves are more merciless than dragons."

Bella was now beginning to feel really uncomfortable. Whenever Smaug's roving eye, seeking for her in the shadows, flashed across her, she tremble uncontrollably, and an unaccountable desire seized hold of her to rush out and reveal herself and tell all the truth to Smaug. In fact she was in grevious danger of coming under dragon-spell. But plucking up courage she spoke again.

"You do not know everything, O Smaug the Mighty," said she. "Not gold alone brought us hither."

"Ha! Ha! You admit the 'us'" laughed Smaug. "Why not say 'us fourteen' and be done with it Lady Lucky Number? I am pleased to hear that you had other business in these parts besides my gold. In that case you may, perhaps, not altogether waste your time.

"I don't know if it had occurred to you that, even if you could steal the gold bit by bit – a matter of a hundred years or so – you could not get very far? Not much use on the mountain-side? Not much use in the forest? Bless me! Had you never thought of the catch? A fourteenth share, I suppose, or something like it, those were the terms, eh? But what about delivery? What about cartage? What about armed guards and trolls?" And Smaug laughed aloud. He had a wicked and a wily heart, and he knew his guesses were not far out, though he suspected that the Lake-men were at the back of the plans, and that most of the plunder was meant to stop there in the town by the shore hat in his young days had been called Esgaroth.

Anger pulsed through her veins. If she did not stay with the dwarves when this was all over (though she really wished that she would), she would not take a single piece of treasure! Gold was not the reason she came on this journey. But the dragon's poisonous words filled her mind, turning her stomach into knots. Had the dwarves known all this already thought? Were they all laughing in their sleeves at her the entire time? That is the effect dragon-talk has on the inexperienced.

"I tell you," she all but yelled at the dragon. "That gold holds no importance to me. I desired a journey, not treasure and wealth such as this. Gems and jewels and gold hold no value to one such as me. The greatest gift is that which cannot be held in the palm of one's hand. My desire was to have an adventure and witness history in the making and be a part of it, not the reward that potentially waited at the end! I travel with the dwarves to assist them in their revenge!"

Then Smaug really did laugh – a devastating sound which shook Bella to the floor.

"Revenge!" he snorted, and the light of his eyes lit the hall from floor to ceiling like scarlet lightning. "Revenge! The King under the Mountain is dead and where are his kin that dare seek revenge? Girion Lord of Dale is dead, and I have eaten his people like a wolf among sheep, and where are his sons' sons that dare approach me? I kill where I wish and none dare resist. I laid low the warriors of old and their like is not in the world today. Then I was but young and tender. Now I am old and strong! My armor is like tenfold shields, my teeth are swords, my claws spears, the shock of my tail a thunderbolt, my wings a hurricane, and my breath death!"

"I have always understood," said Bella in a frightened voice, "that dragons were softer underneath, especially in the region of the – er –chest; but doubtless one so fortified has thought of that."

The dragon stopped short in his boasting. "Your information is antiquated," he snapped. "I am armored above and below with iron scales and hard gem. No blade can pierce me."

"I might have guessed it," said Bella. "Truly there can nowhere be found the equal of Lord Smaug the Impenetrable. What magnificence to possess a waistcoat of fine diamonds!"

"Yes, it is rare and wonderful, indeed," said Smaug absurdly pleased. He did not know that the hobbit had already caught a glimpse of his peculiar under-covering on her previous visit, and was itching for a closer view for reasons of her own. The dragon rolled over. "Look!" he said. "What do you say to that?"

"Dazzlingly marvelous! Perfect! Flawless! Staggering!" Bella exclaimed. In her head, she thought 'Old fool! Why, here is a large patch in the hollow of his left breast as bare as a snail out of its shell!"

After she had seen that, Bella's one idea was to get away. "Well, I really must not detain Your Magnificence any longer," she said, "or keep you from much needed rest. Ponies take some catching. I believe, after a long start." With that, she darted back and fled up the tunnel.

The dragon spouted terrific flames after her, and fast though she sped up the slope, she had not gone nearly far enough to be comfortable before the ghastly head of Smaug was thrust against the opening behind. Luckily the whole head and jaws could not squeeze in, but the nostrils sent forth fire and vapor to pursue her, and she was nearly overcome, and stumbled blindly on in great pain. She had been feeling rather pleased with her cleverness of her conversation with Smaug, but it was not enough to keep the great beast from lunging after her.

The afternoon was turning into evening when she came out again and stumbled and fell in a faint on the 'doorstep'. The last thing she saw was Thorin, catching her in his strong arms with a worried expression in his blue eyes. He was shouting her name as the darkness claimed her, freeing her of the pain from her burns.


	15. Without a Hope

Chapter 15: Without a Hope

A loud groan escaped Bella as she opened her eyes to the starry night sky above her. Every part of her body ached and stung from the multiple burns. At the sound of her awakening, a figure with icy blue eyes and long black locks blocked the sky from her view. "You're awake!" Thorin gasped, reaching up and gently cradling her face. "You need to stop worrying me like this."

"I'm sorry," Bella murmured as she turned her face into his hand.

"Don't apologize. I need to stop allowing you to put yourself in such dangerous positions," he said. As she began to sit up, the large dwarf pushed gently on her shoulders. "You need to rest, and you probably shouldn't move. Oin put some ointments on your burns, but it's not going to do much if you are up and moving."

Bella shooed his hands away and sat up. "I'm not a piece of china, Thorin," she grumbled as she held his hands in both of hers. "Besides, we cannot stay here; for I fear Smaug will soon be on the move." Glancing over, she spotted the old thrush sitting on a rock nearby with its head cocked on one side, listening to all that was said.

"Why what has happened?" cried the dwarves who had created almost a circle around her and Thorin, happy that she was finally awake. "Go on with your tale!"

So Bella told them all she could remember, and she confessed that she had a nasty feeling that the dragon guessed too much from her riddles added to the camps and the ponies. "I am sure he knows we came from Lake-town and had help from there; and I have a horrible feeling that his next move may be in that direction. I wish to goodness I had never said that about Barrelrider; it would make even a blind rabbit in these parts think of the Lake-men."

"Well, well! It cannot be helped, and it is difficult not to slip in talking to a dragon, or so I have always heard," said Balin. "I think you did very well, if you ask me – you found out one very useful thing at any rate, and got home alive, and that is more than most can say who have had words with the likes of Smaug. It may be a mercy and a blessing yet to know if the bare patch in the old Worm's diamond waistcoat."

That turned the conversation, and they all began discussing dragon-slayings historical, dubious, and mythical, and the various sorts of stabs and jabs and undercuts, and the different arts devices and stratagems by which they had been accomplished. The general opinion was that catching a dragon napping was not as easy as it sounded, and the attempt to stick one or prod one asleep was more likely to end in disaster than a bold frontal attack. All the while they talked the thrush listened, till at last it silently spread its wings and flew away. And all the while they talked and the shadows lengthened Bella became more and more unhappy and her foreboding grew.

At last she interrupted them. "I am sure we are very unsafe here," she said, "and I don't see the point of sitting here. The dragon has withered all the pleasant green, and anyway the night has long since come with the cold. But I feel it in my bones that this place will be attacked again. Smaug now knows how I came down to this hall, and you can trust him to guess where the other end of the tunnel is. He will break all this side of the Mountain to bits, if necessary, to stop up our entrance, and if we are smashed with it the better he will like it."

"Why has Smaug not blocked up the lower end, then, if he is so eager to keep us out?" asked Dori, clearly in a foul mood. "He has not, or we would have heard him."

"I don't know, because at first he wanted to try and lure me in again, I suppose, and now perhaps because he is waiting till after tonight's hunt, or because he does not want to damage his bedroom if he can help it – but I wish you would not argue. Smaug will be coming out any minute now, and our only hope is to get well in the tunnel and shut the door."

She seemed so much in earnest that the dwarves at last did as she said, though they delayed shutting the door – it seemed a desperate plan, for no one knew whether or how they could get it open again from the inside, and the thought of being shut in a place from which the only way out led through the dragon's lair was not one they liked. Also everything seemed quite quiet, both outside and down the tunnel. So for a longish while they sat inside not far down from the half-open door and went on talking.

The talk turned to the dragon's wicked words about the dwarves. Bella wished she had never heard them, or at least that she could feel quite concern that the dwarves now were absolutely quite honest when they declared that they had never thought at all about what would happen after the treasure was won. "You shouldn't listen to dragon speak," Thorin murmured to her. "It has a dark way of manipulating the mind and making one believe and worry over needless things. You'll get your fourteen share, and we'll make sure it stays with you."

A slight pulse of anger coursed through her as she let out a frustrated sigh. "Have you heard nothing of what I have said, Thorin?!" she said loudly, silencing the rest of the dwarrows who were engaged in conversation. "I have no love of gold or gems, and I do not intend on accepting _payment _when this is all over. Do not think me so shallow! Gold is something that everyone finds so valuable, but what good is gold going to do when you die trying to achieve it?! Why live life chasing gold that will do you nothing once dead, when you could spend your limited time alive, _living?_"

Some of the dwarves looked angry at her for saying this, but she did not miss the look of understanding that passed through their eyes as well; even Thorin's. Standing up, with a string of curses from the sudden pain of her flaring burns, she snapped at Thorin who reached up to help her. "Don't _touch _me!" she gasped as she clawed at her charred flesh underneath her clothing. "Ever since we've gotten relatively close to this damned Mountain, you've changed! When I had managed to escape the dragon, you did not ask how I was! You asked about the _gold!" _She spat the word out as if it were the lowliest filth to have ever escaped her mouth.

The dwarves were shocked into silence, but none were as frozen as the mighty King himself who looked up at her in surprise. She continued. "You've strung me along, Thorin, and it will not do any longer. Keep to yourself until we've reclaimed this forsaken Mountain, clear through your feelings, and then talk to me. Because until then, I've got nothing to say to you." With that, she turned and hobbled off a ways until the dwarves were beyond hearing distance.

Taking a seat on the cold stone floor, she began to cry heartbroken sobs that threatened to rip her into two. It was over an hour later when two dwarves sat down next to her. It was Fili and Kili. "We've just shut the door," Fili murmured softly as he placed his hand on her shoulder.

Kili let out a sigh and placed his forehead against her temple in a comforting gesture. "What you said to Uncle was the best thing you could have possibly told him. The gold sickness is taking hold of him; has been for quite some time now."

"But you… it has been you that keeps some of the old Thorin here with us," Fili said softly. "There will come a time when he may even say some terrible things to you when we get among the gold, but remember that none of it is coming from him. The Uncle we know feels just as strongly for you, as you do him."

"The dragon sickness," Kili added, "poisons the mind and turns a dwarf into a mad-man. But it is not actually him. It is a dark, evil being that has been around for many generations, and it resides inside the Arkenstone." At this, Bella stiffened. Of course! It was the Arkenstone. The Arkenstone was responsible for the dragon-sickness, not the gold itself.

Suddenly a blow smote the side of the Mountain like the crash of giants. The rock boomed, the walls cracked and stones fell from the roof on their heads. They all fled further down the tunnel glad to be still alive, while behind them outside they heard the roar and rumble of Smaug's fury. He was breaking rocks to pieces, smashing wall and cliff with the lashings of his huge tail, till their lofty camping ground, the scorched grass, the thrush's stone, the snail-covered walls, the narrow ledge, and all disappeared in a jumble of smithereens, and an avalanche of splintered stones fell over the cliff into the valley below.

Smaug had left his lair in silent stealth, quietly soared into the air, and then floated heavy and slow in the dark like a monstrous crow, down the wind towards the west of the Mountain, in hopes of catching unawares something or somebody there, and of spying the outlet passage which the thief had used. This was the outburst of his wrath when he could find nobody and see nothing, even where he guessed the outlet must actually be.

After he had let off his rage in this way he felt better and he thought in his heart that he would not be trouble again from that direction. In the meanwhile he had further vengeance to take. "Barrelrider!" he snorted. "Your feet came from the waterside and up the water you came without a doubt. I don't know you smell, but if you are not one of those of the Lake, you had their help. They shall see me and remember who is the real King under the Mountain!"

He rose in fire and went away south towards the Running River.


	16. Not at Home

Chapter 16: Not at Home

In the meanwhile, the dwarves sat in the darkness, and utter silence fell about them. Little they ate and little they spoke. They could not count the passing time; and they scarcely dared to move, for the whisper of their voices echoed and rustled in the tunnel. If they dozed, they woke still to darkness and to silence going on unbroken. At last after days and days of waiting, it seemed, when they were becoming choked and dazed for want of air, they could bear it no longer. They would almost have welcomed sounds from below of the dragon's return. In the silence they feared some cunning devilry of his, but they could not sit there forever.

Thorin spoke: "Let us try the door! I think I would rather be smashed by Smaug in the open than suffocate in here." Deep in her gut, Bella (whom had not spoken since that night when she shouted at Thorin) knew that the door would not open. Still, several of the dwarves got up and groped back to where the door had been. But they found that the upper end of the tunnel had been shattered and blocked with broken rock. Neither key nor the magic it had once obeyed would ever open that door again.

"We are trapped!" some of them groaned. "This is the end. We will die here."

Yet, just when the dwarves were most despairing, Bella felt a strange lightening of the heart. "I am going _down _the tunnel once again," she said, her voice cracking slightly from lack of use. "I have been that way twice, when I knew there was a dragon at the other end, so I will risk a third visit when I am no longer sure. Anyway the only way out is down. And I think this time you had better all come with me."

In desperation, they all agreed. "Now be careful!" whispered the hobbit. "And be as quiet as you can possibly be! There may be no Smaug at the bottom, but then again there may be. Don't let us take unnecessary risks."

Down, down they went. The dwarves could not, of course, compare with the hobbit in real stealth, and they made a deal of puffing and shuffling which echoes magnified alarmingly; but though every now and again Bella in fear stopped and listened, not a sound stirred below. Near the bottom, as well as she could judge, Bella slipped on her ring and went ahead. But she did not need it: the darkness was complete, and they were all invisible, ring or no ring. In fact so black was it that the hobbit came to the opening unexpectedly, put her hand on air, stumbled forward and rolled headlong down into the hall!

There she lay downwards on the floor and did not dare to get up, or hardly even to breathe. But nothing moved. There was not even a gleam of light – unless, as it seemed to her, when at last she slowly raised her head, there was a pale white glint above her and far off in the gloom. But certainly it was not a spark of dragon-fire, though the worm-stench was heavy in the place, and the taste of vapor was on her tongue.

At length Bella could bear it no longer. "Confound you, Smaug!" she hollered aloud. "Stop playing hide-and-seek! Give me a light, and then eat me, if you can catch me!"

Faint echoes ran round the unseen hall, but there was no answer.

Bella got up, and found that she did not know in what direction to turn.

"Now I wonder what on earth Smaug is playing at," she said. "He is not at home today (or tonight, or whatever it is), I do believe. If Oin and Gloin have not lost their tinder-boxes, perhaps we can make a little light, and have a look around before the luck turns."

"Light!" she cried. "Can anybody make a light?"

The dwarves, of course, were very alarmed when Bella fell forwards down the step with a bump into the hall, and they sat huddled just where she had left them at the end of the tunnel. Thorin was particularly worried, and contemplated jumping after her, but instead had to focus on holding down his nephews from doing the same thing.

"SH!" they hissed, when they heard her voice; and though that helped the hobbit to find out where they were, it was some time before she could get anything else out of them. But in the end, when Bella actually began to stamp on the floor, and screamed out "light" at the top of her lungs, Thorin gave way, and Oin and Gloin were sent back to their bundles at the top of the tunnel.

After a while a twinkling gleam showed them returning, Oin with a small pine torch alight in his hand, and Gloin with a bundle of others under his arm. Quickly Bella trotted to the door and took the torch, but she could not convince the dwarves to light the others or come and join her yet. Thorin did offer, but she blatantly ignored him and said she would go ahead by herself. So the dwarves sat near the door and watched.

They saw the little dark shape of the hobbit start across the floor holding her tiny light aloft. Every now and again, while she was still near enough, they caught a glint and a twinkle as she stumbled on some golden thing. The light grew smaller as she wandered away into the vast hall; then it began to rise dancing into the air. Bella was climbing the great mound of treasure. Soon she stood upon the top, and still went on. Then they saw her halt and stoop for a moment; but they did not know the reason.

It was the Arkenstone, the Heart of the Mountain. So Bella guessed from Thorin's descriptions of it, but indeed there could not be two such gems, even in so marvelous a hoard, even in all the world. Ever as she climbed, the same white gleam had shone before her and drawn her feet towards it. Slowly it grew to a little globe of pallid light. Now as she came near, it was tinged with a flickering sparkle of many colors at the surface, reflected and splintered from the wavering light of her torch. At last she looked down upon it, and she caught her breath. The great jewel shone before her feet of its own inner light, and yet, cut and fashioned by the dwarves, who had dug it from the heart of the Mountain long ago, it took all light that fell upon it and changed it into ten thousand sparks of white radiance shot with glints of the rainbow.

Suddenly Bella's arm went towards it drawn by its enchantment. Her small hand would not close about it, for it was a large and heavy gem, but she lifted it, shut her eyes, and put it deep in her pocket. "I will officially take this as my fourteenth share, until I know whether it will cause more problems for the dwarves if I give it to them." All the same she had an uncomfortable felling and that trouble was yet to come because of it.

Now she went on again. Down the other side of the great mound she climbed, and the spark of her torch vanished from the sight of the watching dwarves. But soon they saw it far away in the distance again. Bella was crossing the floor of the hall.

She went on, until she came to the great doors at the further side, and there a draught of air refreshed her, but it almost puffed out her light. She peeped timidly through, and caught a glimpse of great passages of the dim beginnings of wide stairs going up into the gloom. And still there was no sight nor sound of Smaug. She was just going to turn and go back, when a black shape swooped at her, and brushed her face. She squeaked and started, stumbled backwards and fell. Her torch dropped downwards and went out!

"Only a bat, I suppose and hope!" she said miserably. "But now what do I do? Which is East, South, North, or West?"

"HELLO?" she cried. "The light's gone out! Someone come find me and help me!" For the moment, her courage had failed altogether.

Faintly the dwarves heard her small cries, though the only word they could catch was "help".

"Bella!" Thorin said, ceasing his pacing at the sound of her panicked cry. He knew very well that it wasn't the dragon, because if it was she wouldn't be shouting like that. "Come on, get a light going and let's go help our burglar."

"It is about our turn to help," said Balin, "and I am quite willing to go. Anyway I expect it is safe for the moment."

Gloin lit several more torches, and then they all crept out, one by one, and went along the wall as hurriedly as they could. It was not long before they met Bella herself coming back towards them. Her wits had quickly returned as soon as she saw the tinkle of their lights. When the dwarves swarmed her and asked what happened, she ignored Thorin and answered only the other members of the company.

"Only a bat, I think, and I dropped the torch. Nothing but that," she said. Though they were much relieved, they were a bit grumpy from having been so scared for her wellbeing. Thorin simply looked upset and angry, at having been ignored.

The mere fleeting glimpses of treasure which they had caught as they went along had rekindled all the fire of their dwarvish hearts; and when the heart of a dwarf, even the most respectable, is wakened by gold and by jewels, he grows suddenly bold, and he may become fierce.

The dwarves indeed no longer needed any urging. All were now eager to explore the hall while they had the chance, and willing to believe that, for the present, Smaug was away from home. Each now gripped a lighted torch; and as they gazed, first on one side and then on another, they forgot fear and even caution. They spoke aloud, and cried out to one another, as they lifted old treasures from the mound or from the wall and held them in the light, caressing and fingering them.

Fili and Kili were almost in merry mood, and finding still hanging there many golden harps strung with silver they took them and struck them; and being magical they were still in tune. The dark hall was filled with a melody that had long been silent. But most of the dwarves were more practical; they gathered gems and stuffed their pockets, and let what they could not carry fall back through their fingers with a sigh. Thorin was not among these; but always he searched from side to side for something which he could not find. It was the Arkenstone; but he spoke of it yet to no one.

Now the dwarves took down mail and weapons from the walls, and armed themselves. Royal indeed did Thorin look, clad in a coat of gold-plated rings, with a silver-hafted axe in a belt crusted with scarlet stones. Though Bella had to admit that he looked rather dashing, she preferred him in his regular, less painful clothes.

"Ms. Baggins!" he cried, startling her. "Here is the first payment of your reward! Cast off you old coat and put on this!"

Bella scowled at him angrily, and turned her back to him. No matter how many times she said that she wanted nothing of this treasure, he seemed to force the wealth upon her. While her back was turned, Thorin put a small coat of mail on her, which had been wrought for some young elf long ago. It was silver-steel, which the elves called _mithril_, and with it went a belt of pearls and crystals. "What did I tell you?" she snapped, turning round on him viciously. Hesitation paid her a brief visit when she saw the look of sincerity in his eyes.

"Do not take this as a fourteenth share then. Take it as a gift, to protect you. No blade can pierce that armor, and it would bring me great comfort if you wear it," he said softly.

"This does not change anything," she said, turning heel and walking away from the saddened king. Her eyes grew wet, but she did not shed a tear. That would come later tonight, when everyone else was sleeping.

"Thorin!" Dwalin cried. "What next? We are armed, but what good has any armor ever been before against Smaug? This treasure is not yet won back. We are not looking for gold yet, but for a way to escape; and we have tempted luck too long."

"You speak the truth," Thorin sighed. "Let us go! I will guide you. Not in a thousand years should I forget the ways of this palace." Then he hailed the others, and they gathered together, holding their torches above their heads they passed through the gaping doors, not without many a backward glance of longing.

Their glittering mail they had covered again with their old cloaks and one by one they walked behind Thorin, a line of little lights in the darkness that halted often, listening in fear once more for any rumor of the dragon's coming.

Through all the old adornments were long moldered or destroyed, and though all was befouled and blasted with comings and goings of the monster, Thorin knew every passage and every turn. They climbed long stairs, and turned and went down wide echoing ways, and turned again and climbed yet more stairs, and yet more stairs again. These were smooth, cut out of the living rock broad and fair; and up, up, the dwarves went, and they met no sign of any living thing, only furtive shadows that fled from the approach of their torches fluttering in the draughts.

These steps were not made, all the same, for hobbit-legs, and Bella was just felling that she could go on no longer, when suddenly the roof sprang high and far beyond the reach of their torch-light. A white glimmer could be seen coming though some opening far above, and the air smelt sweeter. Before them light came dimly through great doors, that hung twisted on their hinges and half burnt.

"This is the great chamber of Thror," said Thorin; "the hall of feasting and of council. Not far off now is the Front Gate."

They passed through the ruined chamber. Tables were rotting there; chairs and benches lying overturned, charred and decaying. Skulls and bones were upon the floor among flagons and bowls and broken drinking-horns and dust. As they came through yet more doors at the further end, a sound of water fell upon their ears, and the grey light grew suddenly more full.

"There is the birth of the Running River," said Thorin. "From here it hastens to the Gate. Let us follow it!"

Out of a dark opening in a wall of rock there issued a boiling water, and it flowed swirling in a narrow channel, carved and made straight and deep by the cunning of ancient hands. Beside it ran a stone-paved road, wide enough for many men abreast. Swiftly along this they ran, and round a wide-sweeping turn – and behold! Before them stood the broad light of day. In front there rose a tall arch, still showing fragments of old carven work within, worn and splintered and blackened though it was. A misty sun sent its pale light between the arms of the Mountain, and beams of gold fell on the pavement at the threshold.

A whirl of bats frightened from slumber by their smoking torches flurried over them; as they sprang forward their feet slithered on stones rubbed smooth and slimed by the passing of the dragon. Now before them the water fell noisily outward and foamed down towards the valley. They flung their pale torches to the ground, and stood gazing out with dazzled eyes. They were come to the Front Gate, and were looking out upon Dale.

A cold wind blew upon all of them, sending a chill deep into their bones. It carried a threat of oncoming winter, swirling over and round the arms of the Mountain into the valley, and sighed among the rocks. After their long time in the stewing depths of the dragon-haunted caverns, they shivered in the sun.

"I think we ought to make for the old look-out post at the South-West corner of the Mountain," said Balin.

"How far is that?" asked the exhausted hobbit.

"Five hours march, I should think. It will be rough going. The road from the Gate along the left edge of the stream seems all broken up. But look down there! The river loops suddenly east across Dale in front of the ruined town. At that point there was once a bridge, leading to steep stairs that climbed up the right bank, and so to a road running towards Ravenhill. There is (or was) a path that left the road and climbed up to the post. A hard climb, too, even if the old steps are still there."

"Very well, let us follow Balin's path," said Thorin.

XXXXXXXXXX

Under the rocky wall to the right there was no path, so on they trudged among the stones on the left side of the river, and the emptiness and desolation soon sobered even Thorin again. The bridge that Balin had spoken of they found long fallen, and most of its stones were now only boulders in the shallow noisy stream; but they forded the water without much difficulty, and found the ancient steps, and climbed the high bank. After going a short way they struck the old road, and before long came to a deep dell sheltered among the rocks; there they rested for a while and had such a breakfast as they could.

After that they went on again; and now the road struck westwards and left the river, and the great shoulder of the south-pointing mountain-spur drew even nearer. At length they reached the hill path. It scrambled steeply up, and they plodded slowly one behind the other, till at last in the late afternoon they came to the top of the ridge and saw the wintry sun going downwards towards the West.

Here they found a flat place without a wall on three sides, but backed to the North by a rocky face in which there was an opening like a door. From that door there was a wide view of East and South and West. "Here," said Balin, "in the old days we used always to keep watchmen, and that door behind leads into a rockhewn chamber that was made here as a guardroom. There were several places like it round the Mountain. But there seemed small need for watching in the days of our prosperity, and the guards were made over comfortable, perhaps – otherwise we might have had longer warning of the coming of the dragon, and things might have been different. Still, here we can now lie hid and sheltered for a while, and can see much without being seen."

"Not much use, if we have been seen coming here," said Dori, who was always looking up towards the Mountain's peak, as if he expected to see Smaug perched their like a bird on a steeple.

"We must take our chance of that," said Thorin. "We can go no further today."

Grateful of that mercy, Bella sat down immediately against the rock wall. All of them looked out to the West, South, and East, and saw nothing. There was no sign of the dragon, but there was a gathering of many birds. At that they gazed and wondered; but they were no nearer understanding it, when the first cold stars came out.


	17. The Gathering of the Clouds

Chapter 17: The Gathering of the Clouds

All night one of them had watched, but when morning came they had not heard or seen any sign of danger. But even more thickly the birds were gathering. Their companies came flying from the South; and the crows that still lived above the Mountain were wheeling and crying unceasingly above.

"Something strange is happening," said Thorin. "The time has gone for the autumn wanderings; and these are birds that dwell always in the land; there are starlings and flocks of finches; and far off there are many carrion birds as if a battle were afoot!"

"There's that old thrush again," Bella commented. Sure enough the old thrush was there, and as Bella pointed, he flew towards them and perched on a stone nearby. Then he fluttered his wings and sang; then he cocked his head on one side, as if to listen; and he sang again, and again he listened.

"I believe he is trying to tell us something," said Balin; "but I cannot follow the speech of such birds, it is very quick and difficult. Can you make it out Bella?"

She shook her head gently. "I'm sorry, I cannot."

"I only wish he was a raven," said Balin.

"I though you did not care for them! You seemed very shy of them, when we came this way before."

"Those were crows! And nasty suspicious-looking creatures at that, and rude as well. You must have heard the ugly names they were calling after us. But ravens are different. There used to be a great friendship between them and the people of Thror; and they often brought us secret news, and were rewarded with such bright things as they coveted to hide in their dwellings."

No sooner had he finished speaking that the old thrush gave a loud call, and immediately flew away.

"We may not understand him, but that old bird understands us, I am sure," said Balin. "Keep watch now, and see what happens."

Before long there was a fluttering of wings, and back came the thrush; and with him came a most decrepit old bird. He was getting blind, he could hardly fly, and the top of his head was bald. He was an aged raven of great sixe. He alighted stiffly on the ground before them, slowly flapping his wings, and bobbed towards Thorin.

"Behold," the great bird croaked out, "the birds are gathering back to the Mountain and to Dale from the South and East and West, for word has gone out that Smaug is dead!"

"Dead! Dead?" shouted the dwarves. "Dead! Then we have been in needless fear – and the treasure is ours!" They all sprang up and began to caper for joy.

"Yes, dead," said the raven. "The thrush, may his feathers never fall, saw him die, and we may trust his words. He saw him fall in battle with the men of Esgaroth the third night back from now at the rising of the moon. So much for joy, Thorin Oakenshield. You may return to your halls in safety; all the treasure is yours – for the moment. Many gather beside the birds. The news of the death of the guardian has already gone far and wide, and the legend of the wealth of Thror has not lost in the telling during many years; many are eager for a share of the spoil. Already a host of elves is on the way, and carrion birds are with them hoping for battle and slaughter. By the lake men murmur that their sorrows are due to the dwarves; for they are homeless and many have died, and Smaug has destroyed their town. They too think to find amends from your treasure, whether you are alive or dead

"Your own wisdom must decide you course; but thirteen is small remnant of the great folk of Durin that once dwelt here, and now are scattered far. If you listen to my counsel, you will not trust the Master of the Lake-men, but rather him that shot the dragon with his bow. Bard is he, of the race of Dale. We would see peace once more among dwarves and men and elves after the long desolation; but it may cost you dear in gold. I have spoken."

Then Thorin burst forth in anger: "Our thanks, raven. You and yours shall not be forgotten. But none of our gold shall thieves take or the violent carry off while we are alive. If you would earn our thanks still more, bring us news of any that draw near. Also I would beg of you, if any of you are still young and strong of wing, that you would send messengers to our kin in the mountains of the North and tell them of our plight. But go specifically to my cousin Dain in the Iron Hills, for he has many people well-armed, and dwells nearest to this place. Bid him hasten."

"I will do what can be done," said the raven, before he slowly flew off.

"Back now to the Mountain!" cried Thorin. "We have little time to lose."

"Back to the Mountain!" cried the dwarves.

In the back of the group, Bella firmly clamped her cloak tight, very aware of the weight of the Arkenstone and the burden it was upon her. She knew that things would not go well from this point on.

XXXXXXX

As you have heard some of the events already, you will see that the dwarves still have some days before them. They explored the caverns once more, and found, as they expected, that only the Front Gate remained open; all the other gates had long ago been broken and blocked by Smaug, and no sign of them remained. So now they began to labor hard in fortifying the main entrance, and in making a new path that led from it. Tools were to be found in plenty that the miners and quarries and builders of old had used; and at such work the dwarves were still very skilled.

Bella on the other hand was utterly useless when it came to labor, due to her less sturdy build. So instead, she cooked and took the time to wash and launder all their clothes in the river. It had been days since she'd last uttered a word, and she refused to talk to anybody. Fili and Kili sat with her for company, but Bella would not talk. Guilt about keeping the Arkenstone ate at her, and she was suffering from having to watch Thorin descend into madness bit by bit every day.

As they worked the ravens brought them constant tidings. In this way they learned that the Elvenking had turned aside to the Lake, and they still had a breathing space. Better still, they heard that three of their ponies had escaped and were wandering wild far down the banks of the Running River, not far from where the rest of their stores had been left. So while the others went on with their work, Fili and Kili were sent, guided by a raven, to find the ponies, and bring back all they could.

XXXXXXX

There came a night when suddenly there were many lights as of fires and torches away south in Dale before them.

"They have come!" said Balin. "And their camp is very great. They must have come into the valley under the cover of dusk along both banks of the river."

That night the dwarves slept little. The morning was still pale when they saw a company approaching. From behind their wall they watched them come up to the valley's head and climb slowly up. Before long they could see that both men of the lake armed as if for war and elvish bowmen among them. At length the foremost of these climbed the tumbled rocks and appeared at the top of the falls; and very great was their surprise to see the pool before them and the gate blocked with a wall of new-hewn stone.

As they stood pointing and speaking to each other, Thorin hailed them: "Who are you," he called in a loud voice, "that come as if in war to the gates of Thorin son of Thrain, King under the Mountain, and what do you desire?"

But they answered nothing, and left the way they came. That day the camp was moved to the east of the river, right between the arms of the Mountain. The rocks echoed then with voices and with song, as they had not done for many a day. There was the sound, too, of elven-harps and of sweet music; and as it echoed up towards them it seemed that the chill of the air warmed, and they caught faintly the fragrance of woodland flowers blossoming in the spring.

Then the dwarves themselves brought forth harps and instruments regained from the hoard, and made music to soften the mood. Eventually, when they stopped to think of a different song, Bella gently took Kili's harp and began to sing.

_A king he was on carven throne  
In many-pillared halls of stone  
With golden roof and silver floor  
And runes of power upon the door_

_The light of sun and star and moon  
In shining lamps of crystal hewn  
Undimmed by cloud or shade of night  
There shone forever fair and bright_

_The world is grey, the mountains old  
The forge's fire is ashen-cold  
No harp is wrung, no hammer falls  
The darkness dwells in Durin's halls_

_The shadow lies upon his tomb  
In Moria, in Khazad-Dum  
But still the sunken stars appear  
In dark and windless Mirrormere_

_There lies his crown in water deep  
Till Durin wakes again from sleep_

Bella finished, and placed down the harp, avoiding everyone's eyes as she stood up and walked over to the edge of the wall. Leaning against it, she looked down at the camps below, and knew deep within her heart that war was coming. Hanging over her head like a storm cloud, she knew not everyone would survive, and that perhaps her own Thorin might be among the dead in just a few days to come. It very well could be his tomb that the shadows lie across. 'NO!' she shook her head to banish the thoughts. Thorin would survive, and he would overcome his dragonsickness, no matter what she had to do.

"That was beautiful," came Thorin's voice from behind her, startling her. Spinning around, she clasped her hand over her heart as she tried to slow its rapid beating.

"Don't scare me like that!" she scolded, looking up at his eyes. A gasp escaped her. It was her Thorin's eyes, not the ill monster that had been living in him for the past few weeks.

"Sorry," he said with a sheepish grin, "but you're finally talking to me again."

"I always talk to you Thorin. It's to the gold-craving dwarf whom I will not converse with," she said as she grabbed his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "I'm glad you're back."

A strange look crossed Thorin's eyes, and he quickly changed the subject. "We very well could all die within the next few days."

"Aye," she murmured, "that we could."

Leaning down, his lips brushed her sensitive ears, causing her to shiver pleasantly. "Come away with me tonight," he whispered, before gently tugging her away from the group.

Deep within, Bella knew that this was not a good idea, but she consented because the Arkenstone was currently tucked away in her bag and not on her person. Also, she wanted to experience all of Thorin Oakenshield. It may just be the fear causing her to feel this way, but she wanted a night with her King, in case they may never have a future.

Thorin led her to an old large bedroom, where a gigantic bed lay freshly made and cleaned. This was where Thorin had been sleeping for the past few nights. He turned her around, so that she was facing him, and gently pressed his lips to hers. Electricity shot through her immediately at the familiar feeling of his lips, and her hands automatically went to intertwine in his hair. After a few seconds, he pulled away, earning him a groan from her. "Bella Baggins, would you do me the honor of allowing me to bed you on this night?"

Her hands made their way to cup his cheeks as she planted a chaste kiss on his lips. "Yes," was all she could get out before he scooped her up and devoured her mouth with his. Fire pumped through her veins as she used her hands to quickly remove his cloak and shirts, revealing the hard rippling muscle underneath. Experimentally, she ran her hands across his shoulders and down his chest, raking her nails gently along the firm flesh. A groan escaped Thorin, which she swallowed down, before he moved his head to place a kiss in the crook of her neck. He lowered her down onto the bed, before tearing her coat and shirt off in record time. A deep blush filled her face as Thorin moved back a bit to admire her half naked form.

"You're beautiful," he murmured, as she reached up to cover her chest from his penetrating gaze. He wrapped his hands around each of her wrists and pressed her arms against her sides before descending to place wet kisses down her collar bone and moving towards her breasts.

"Mmmm," she moaned, arching her back slightly. "Thorin…"

And that was just the beginning of their night of passion, in which one hobbit lass lost her virtue, and Thorin made love to his greatest desire.

XXXXXX

When Bella awoke the next morning, she was all alone in the bed with the happy memory of the previous night. No regret filled her, which she took as a good sign, as she quickly dressed and went back to the gate where the others were. Thorin was deep in conversation with Balin, but spared her a smile before returning to the talk. Everyone looked at her with knowing eyes, and Fili and Kili even had the gall to wink at her. Stiff and sore in places she did not know could hurt; she sat down against the wall to think.

A while later, a company of spearmen was seen crossing the river, and marching up the valley. They bore with them the green banner of the Elvenking and the blue banner of the Lake, and they advanced until they stood right before the wall at the Gate.

Again Thorin hailed them in a loud voice: "Who are you that come armed for war to the gates of Thorin son of Thrain, King under the Mountain?" This time he was answered.

A tall man stood forward, dark of hair and grim of face, and he cried: "Hail Thorin! Why do you fence yourself like a robber in his hold? We are not yet foes, and we rejoice that you are alive beyond our hopes. We came expecting to find none living here; yet now that we are met there is matter for a parley and a council."

"Who are you, and of what would you parley?"

"I am Bard, and by my hand was the dragon slain and your treasure delivered. Is that not a matter that concerns you? Moreover I am by right descent the heir of Girion of Dale, and in your hoard is mingled much of the wealth of his halls and towns, which of old Smaug stole. Further in his last battle Smaug destroyed the dwellings of the men of Esgaroth, and I am yet the servant of their Master. I would speak for him and ask whether you have no thought for the sorrow and misery of his people. They aided you in your distress, and in recompense you have thus far brought ruin only, though doubtless undersigned."

"You put your worst cause last and in the chief place," Thorin answered. "To the treasure of my people no man has a claim, because Smaug who stole it from us also robbed him of life or home. The treasure was not his that his evil deeds should be amended with a share of it. The price of goods and the assistance that we received of the Lake-men we will fairly pay – in due time. But _nothing _will we give, not even a loaf's worth, under threat of force. While an armed host lies before our doors, we look to you as foes and thieves.

"It is in my mind to ask what share of the inheritance you would have paid to our kindred, had you found the hoard unguarded and us slain."

"A just question," replied Bard. "But you are not dead, and we are not robbers. Moreover the wealthy may have pity beyond right on the needy that befriended them when they were in want. And still my other claims remain unanswered."

"I will not parley, as I have said, with armed men at my gate. Be gone now ere our arrows fly! And if you would speak with me again, lay down your arms before you approach the threshold."

"We will give you time to repent your words. Gather your wisdom ere we return!" said Bard. Then he departed and went back to camp.

Many hours past, the banner-bearers returned, and trumpets stood forth and blew a blast: "In the name of Esgaroth and the Forest," one cried, "we speak unto Thorin Thrain's son Oakenshield calling himself King under the Mountain, and we bid him consider well the claims that have been urged or be declared our foe. At the least he shall deliver one twelfth portion of the treasure unto Bard, as the dragon-slayer, and as the heir of Girion. From the portion Bard will himself contribute to the aid of Esgaroth; but if Thorin would have the friendship and honor of the lands about, as his sires had of old, then he will give also somewhat of his own for the comfort of the men of the Lake."

Then Thorin seized a bow of horn and shot an arrow at the speaker. It smote into his shield and stuck their quivering.

"Since such is your answer," he called in return, "I declare the Mountain besieged. You shall not depart from it, until you call on your side for a truce and a parley. We will bear no weapons against you, but we leave you to your gold. You may eat that, if you will!"

With that the messengers departed swiftly, and the dwarves were left to consider their case. So grim had Thorin become, that even if they had wished, the others would not have dared to find fault with him; except perhaps old Bombur and Fili and Kili. Bella, of course, greatly disapproved of the whole turn of affairs, and was highly disappointed in Thorin. But as she met his eyes, she saw that her Thorin was gone, and the gold-hungry beast was back.


	18. A Thief in the Night

Chapter 18: A Thief in the Night

Now the days passed slowly and wearily. Many of the dwarves spent their time piling and ordering the treasure; and now Thorin spoke of the Arkenstone and the Arkenstone alone, and bade them eagerly to look for it in every corner. A deep lust filled his eyes as the king surveyed the gold and wealth before them, but he also looked rather ill. His skin became tinted gray; he ate and slept little.

Bella was also doing poorly. The guilt over hiding the Arkenstone from Thorin ate at her every minute of the passing days, and it had even caused her to throw up several times in the mornings upon her awakening. The fact that Thorin cared little over the fact that she was ill sent up red flags, not only to her, but some of the company as well; at least, only those who weren't afflicted by the sickness upon the gold. Those few were Balin, Kili, Fili, and Bofur. The rest had succumbed to a less severe version of the dragon-sickness.

"For the Arkenstone of my father," Thorin said, "is worth more than all the treasure within this Mountain, and is beyond price. That stone of all the treasure I name unto myself, and I will be avenged on anyone who finds it and withholds it."

Bella heard these words and grew afraid; wondering what would happen if Thorin found out that she had had the stone this entire time. All the same she did not speak of it, for as the weariness of the days grew heavier, the beginnings of a plan had come into her head.

Things had gone on like this for some time, when the ravens brought news that Dain and more than five hundred dwarves, hurrying from the Iron Hills, were now within about two days' march of Dale, coming from the North-East.

"But they cannot reach the Mountain unmarked," said the raven, "and I fear lest there be battle in the valley. I do not call this counsel good. Though they are a grim folk, they are not likely to overcome the host that besets you; and even if they did so, what will you gain? Winter and snow is hastening behind them. How shall you be fed without the friendship and goodwill of the lands about you? The treasure is likely to be your death, though the dragon is no more!"

But Thorin was not moved. "Winter and snow will bite both men and elves," he said, "and they may find their dwellings in the waste grievous to here. With my friends behind them and winter upon them, they will perhaps be in softer mood to parley with."

That night Bella made up her mind. The sky was black and moonless. As soon as it was full dark, she went to a corner of an inner chamber just within the gate and drew from her bundle a rope, and also the Arkenstone wrapped in a rag. Then she climbed to the top of the wall. Only Bombur was there, for it was his turn to watch, and the dwarves kept only one watchman at a time.

"It is mighty cold!" said Bombur. "I wish we could have a fire up here as they have in the camp."

"It is warm enough inside," said Bella.

"I daresay; but I am bound here till midnight," grumbled the fat dwarf. "A sorry business altogether. Not that I venture to disagree with Thorin."

"I will take your turn for you, Bombur," she said. "There is no sleep in me tonight."

"You are a good lass, Ms. Baggins, and I will gladly take your offer."

As soon as Bombur had gone, Bella put on her ring, fastened her rope, slipped down over the wall, and was gone. She had about five hours before her. Bombur would sleep and all the others were busy with Thorin. It was unlikely that any would come out on the wall until it was their turn.

It was very dark and the road was strange to her. At last she came to a bend where she had to cross the water, if she was to make for the camp, as she wished. The bed of the stream was there shallow but already broad, and fording it in the dark was not easy for the little hobbit. She was nearly across when she missed her footing and fell into the cold water with a splash. She had barely scrabbled out on the far bank, shivering and spluttering, when up came elves in the gloom with bright lanterns and searched for the cause of the noise.

"That was no fish!" one said. "There is a spy about. Hide your lights! They will help him more than us, if it that queer little creature that is said to be their servant!"

"Servant, indeed," snorted Bella; and in the middle of her snort she sneezed loudly, and the elves immediately gathered towards the sound.

"Let's have a light, gentlemen," she said. "I am here, if you want me!" She slipped off her ring, and popped out from behind a rock.

They seized her quickly, in spite of their surprise. "Who are you? Are you the dwarves' hobbit? What are you doing? How did you get so far past our sentinels?" they asked one after the other.

"I am Ms. Bella Baggins," she answered, "companion of Thorin, if you want to know. I know you king well by sight and even in friendship. I demand to be taken to King Thranduil and Bard immediately!"

"What be your business?" asked one of the elves.

"Whatever it is, it's my own, my good elves. I do not think Thranduil will be pleased for you keeping me from his company. I do believe he will be rather cross."

XXXXXXXXX

That is how it came about that some two hours after Bella had escaped from the Gate, she was sitting beside a warm fire in front of a large tent, and there sat to both the Elvenking and Bard. Thranduil had been pleased when she was brought to him, and treated her like an old friend, and she greatly approved of Bard as well.

"Really you know," said Bella, "things are impossible! Personally I am tired of the whole affair, and I desperately wish for Thorin and the others to return to their normal selves. This dragon-sickness is exhausting and heart-crushing to witness. But I have an interest in this manner – one fourteenth share to be precise. Have you heard of Dain and the dwarves of the Iron Hills?"

"We have, a long time ago; but what has he got to do with us?" asked the king.

"I thought as much. I see I have some information that you have not received. Dain, I may tell you, is now less that two days' march off, and has at least five hundred dwarves with him – a good many of them have had experience in the dreadful dwarf and goblin wards, of which you have no doubt heard. When they arrive there may be serious trouble."

"Why do you tell us this? Are you betraying your friends, or are you threatening us?" asked Bard grimly.

"My dear Bard!" squeaked Bella. "Don't be so hasty1 I never met such suspicious folk. I am merely trying to avoid trouble for all concerned. Now I will make you an offer!"

"Let us hear it."

"You may see it," said Bella. "It is this!" and she drew forth the Arkenstone, and threw away the wrapping.

The Elvenking stood up in shock. "The King's jewel," he murmured.

"This is the Arkenstone of Thrain," said Bella, "the heart of the Mountain; and it is also the heart of Thorin." She winced as she said this, not going unnoticed by Thranduil. "He values it above all else. I give it to you to aid in your bargaining."

Reaching over, she gave the tainted jewel to Bard, who gazed at it in wonder. "But how is this yours to give?" he asked.

"O well!" said the hobbit uncomfortably. "It isn't exactly; but I will let it stand against my claim, don't you know. I may be a burglar, but I like to believe I am an honest one. Anyway, I am going back now, and the dwarves can do what they like to me. I hope you will find it useful."

"No!" Thranduil said quickly. "I doubt Thorin will see this act of kindness as such. I must request you remain with us, and here you shall be welcomed, honored, and protected."

Bella smiled softly at the king. "Thank you, king Thranduil, I am honored. However, my duty lies with my king. I shall not abandon him during these rough times, and I feel that war is upon us. I will fight alongside him, whether he wishes me to or not."

Nothing they could say would stop her, so an escort was provided for her, and as she went both the king and Bard saluted her with honor. As they went through the camp, an old man wrapped in a dark cloak rose from a tent and came towards them.

"Well done! Ms. Baggins!" he said, clapping Bella on the back. "There is always more about you that anyone expects!" It was Gandalf.

For the first time in many a day Bella was really delighted. But there was no time for all the questions that she immediately wished to ask.

"All in good time!" said Gandalf. "Things are drawing towards the end now, unless I am mistaken. There is an unpleasant time just in front of you; but keep your heart up! You may come through all right. There is news brewing that even the ravens have not heard. Good night!"

Puzzled but cheered, Bella was about to continue on when she spotted Thranduil on a giant elk galloping towards her. Confused, she looked up at his terrifying animal as the King dismounted in front of her. "My apologies, but I wished to discuss something quick with you."

"Alright," Bella said, wishing to know what the king wanted.

"You'll have to forgive me for being blunt," he said as he kneeled down in front of her. "But elves have the ability to see things that many cannot. I noticed it as you left the tent. You are pregnant."

Bella froze. Her blood turned to ice and all the air left her lungs. Mouth gaping like a fish, a million thoughts began to race around her head. How was that possible? She'd only ever done that once, and with Thorin. That meant he was the father! Oh Mahal, this was not good. Not good at all. Of course, deep down she was pleased, but she knew Thorin would not be.

"I think it would be wise to remain here with us, but since I know that you will not, I advise you to not tell Thorin about the child until after all of this chaos has passed," Thranduil said softly.

Bella nodded slowly, still trapped in a daze before she was led back to the Gate. Carefully, she climbed carefully back up the rope with great weariness. She untied it and hid it, and then she sat down on the wall and wondered anxiously about what she was to do now. Ending up pregnant before a war? She knew not to get her hopes up. More than likely she would miscarry the child within the next several days.

A single tear rolled down her cheek.


	19. The Clouds Burst

Chapter 19: The Clouds Burst

Next day the trumpets rang early in the camp. Soon a single runner was seen hurrying along the narrow path. At a distance he stood and hailed them, asking whether Thorin would now listen to another embassy, since new tidings had come to hand, and matters were changed.

"That will be Dain!" said Thorin when he heard. "They will have gotten wind of his coming. I thought that would alter their mood! Bid them come few in number and weaponless, and I will hear," he called to the messenger.

About midday the banners of the Forest and the Lake were seen to be borne forth again. A company of twenty was approaching. At the beginning of the narrow way they laid aside sword and spear, and came on towards the Gate. Wondering, the dwarves saw that among them were both Bard and the Elvenking, before whom an old man wrapped in cloak and hood bore a strong casket of iron-bound wood.

"We have come to tell you that payment of your debt has been offered and accepted," said Thranduil with a sly grin.

"What payment? I gave you nothing. You have nothing," Thorin snapped, but confusion was evident in his voice.

"We have this," announced Bard as he held up the Arkenstone in full view. Thorin's eyes grew wide before they narrowed in anger.

"How came you by it?!" shouted Thorin in rage. The other dwarves shouted in anger as well.

"I gave it to them," Bella squeaked, who was peering over the wall, by now in a dreadful fright.

"You…" Thorin said, betrayal and hurt in his eyes, piercing Bella's heart like a knife.

A sob escaped her, unwillingly of course. "I took it as my fourteenth share," she said.

Thorin's eyes still bore the betrayed look as he said, "You would steal from me?"

"Steal from you? No! That was not my intention Thorin. I am willing to let it stand against my claim."

A savage, humored look appeared in Thorin's icy blue eyes which promised death. Fear ran down Bella's spine at his next words. "Against your claim? You have no claim you shire rat!"

A pained gasp escaped from Bella as she grabbed onto her abdomen. Why did doing the right thing hurt so much? "I was going to give it to you! Many times, I wanted to. But… you changed Thorin. The dwarf I knew and fell in love with would never have gone back against his word. I did this to help bring you back Thorin. To bring my king back. The Thorin I knew would never have doubted the loyalty of his kin!" Tears pooled over her cheeks, soaking her shirt.

Anger flared in his eyes and his fists clenched. "Do not speak to me of loyalty!" He turned away for a moment and bellowed: "Throw her from the gate!"

Bella's heart stopped at that moment. Her Thorin almost gone, replaced by this monster, and the only indication that he was still in there somewhere was that tears were beginning to pool in his eyes. When the dwarves began to shout out in refusal, Thorin reached forward and grabbed her by the throat. "If none of you shall do it, then I will do it myself."

Thorin lifted her up and held her over the gate, but she felt no fear. All was lost anyways. Her Thorin was gone. Lifting a hand, she placed it against his cheek. "Do it Thorin," she choked out. "I know you won't mean to, so I forgive you. This is my fault."

Hesitation stopped Thorin's fingers from releasing her when a voice called up to them from below. It was Gandalf. "If you don't like my burglar, than please, don't damage her. Return her to me! You're not making a very splendid figure, King under the Mountain, Thorin son of Thrain."

Thorin threw Bella roughly to the ground beside him, where she was helped up by Bofur and Fili and aided to a rope where she quickly descended the great wall. Many of the dwarves in their hearts felt pity and shame at her going.

The poor hobbit lass was broken already, but turned to dust the moment Thorin shouted: "Never again will I have dealings with wizards or Shire rats! Be gone from my Mountain you worthless thief!"

"Are we resolved in our dealings?" Bard shouted back, as Bella went to stand numbly beside Gandalf. When Thorin never answered, he added: "We will be back tomorrow at noon, and see if you have brought from the hoard the portion that is to be set against stone. If that is done without deceit, then we will depart, and the elf-host will go back to the Forest."

With that they went back to the camp; but Thorin sent messengers by ravens to Dain, telling of what had passed and bidding him to come with great speed.

XXXXXXX

That day passed and the night. The next day the wind shifted west, and the air was dark and gloomy. The morning was still early when a cry was heard in the camp. Runners came in to report that a host of dwarves had appeared round the eastern spur of the Mountain and was no hastening to Dale. Dain had come. He had hurried on through the night, and so had come upon them sooner than they had expected. Each one of his folk was clad in a hauberk of steel mail that hung to his knees, and his legs were covered with hose of a fine and flexible metal mesh, the secret of whose making was possessed by Dain's people. The dwarves are exceedingly strong for their height, but most of these were strong even for dwarrows. In battle they wielded heavy two-handed mattocks; but each of them had a short broad sword at his side and a round shield slung across his back. Their beards were forked and plaited and thrust into their belts. Their caps were of iron and they were shod with iron, and their faces were grim.

Trumpets called men and elves to arms. Before long the dwarves could be seen coming up the valley at a great pace. They halted between the river and the eastern spur; but a few held on their way, crossing the river drew near the camp; and there they laid down their weapons and held up their hands in a sign of peace. Bard went out to meet them, and Bella, who'd spent the entire night mourning her love, went with him.

"We are sent from Dain son of Nain," they said when questioned. "We are hastening to our kingdom in the Mountain, since we learn that the kingdom of old is renewed. But who are you that sit in the pain as foes before defended walls?"

Bard refused to let the dwarves go straight on to the Mountain. He was determined to wait until the gold and silver had been brought out and exchanged for the Arkenstone; for he did not believe that this would be done, if once the fortress was manned with so large and warlike a company. They had brought with them a great store of supplies; for dwarves can carry very heavy burdens, and nearly all of Dain's folk, in spite of their rapid march, bore huge packs on their backs in addition to the weapons. They would stand a siege for weeks, and by that time yet more dwarves might come, and yet more, for Thorin had many relatives. Also they would be able to reopen and guard some other gate, so that the besiegers would have to encircle the whole mountain; and for that they had not sufficient numbers.

These were, in fact, precisely their plans; but for the moment the way was barred, so after angry words the dwarf-messengers retired muttering in their beards. Bard then sent messengers at once to the Gate; but they found no gold or payment. Arrows came forth as soon as they were within shot, and they hastened back in dismay. In the camp all was now astir, as if for battle; for the dwarves of Dain were advancing along the eastern bank.

"Fools!" laughed Bard, "to come thus beneath the Mountain's arm! They do not understand war above ground, whatever they may know of battle in the mines. There are many of our archers and spearmen now hidden in the rocks upon their right flank. Dwarf-mail may be good, but they will soon be hard put to it. Let us set on them now from both sides, before they are fully rested."

But the Elvenking said: "The dwarves cannot pass us, unless we will, or do anything we cannot mark. Let us hope still for something that will bring reconciliation. Our advantage in numbers will be enough, if in the end it must come to unhappy blows."

But he reckoned without the dwarves. The knowledge that the Arkenstone was in the hands of the besiegers burned in their thoughts; also they guessed the hesitation of Bard and his friends, and resolved to strike while they debated.

Suddenly without a signal they sprang silently forward to attack. Bows tangled and arrows whistled, battle was about to be joined.

Still more suddenly a darkness came on with dreadful swiftness! A black cloud hurried over the sky. Winter thunder on a wild wind rolled roaring up and rumbled in the Mountain, and lightning lit its peak. And beneath the thunder another blackness could be seen whirling forward; but it did not come with the wind, it came from the North, like a vast cloud of birds, so dense that no light could be seen between their wings.

"Halt!" cried Gandalf, who appeared suddenly, and stood alone, with arms uplifted, between the advancing dwarves and the ranks awaiting them. "Halt!" he called in a voice like thunder, and his staff blazed forth with a flash like lightning. "Dread had come upon you all! Alas, it has come more swiftly than I guessed. The Goblins are upon you! Bolg of the North is coming, O Dain! Behold! The bats are above his army like a sea of locusts. They ride upon wolves and Wargs are in their train!"

Amazement and confusion fell upon them all. Even as Gandalf had been speaking the darkness grew. The dwarves halted and gazed at the sky. The elves cried out with many voices.

"Come!" called Gandalf. "There is yet time for council. Let Dain son of Nain come swiftly to us!"

XXXXXXXX

So began a battle that had not been expected; and it was called the Battle of Five Armies, and it was very terrible. Upon one side were the Goblins and the Wild Wolves, and upon the other were Elves and Men and Dwarves.

This is the plan Gandalf made in council with the Elvenking and with Bard; and with Dain, for the dwarf-lord no joined them: the Goblins were the foes of all, and at their coming all other quarrels were forgotten. Their only hope was to lure the goblins into the valley between the arms of the Mountain; and themselves to man the great spurs that struck south and east. Yet this would be perilous, if the goblins were in sufficient numbers to overrun the Mountain itself, and so attack them from behind and above; but there was no time to make any other plan, or to summon any help.

Soon the thunder passed, rolling away to the South-East; bat the bat-cloud came, flying lower, over the shoulder of the Mountain, and whirled above them shutting out the light and filling them with dread.

"To the Mountain!" called Bard. "To the Mountain! Let us take our places while there is yet time!"

On the Southern spur, in its lower slopes and in the rocks at its feet, the Elves were set; on the Eastern spur were men and dwarves. But Bard and some of the nimblest men and elves climbed to the height of the Eastern shoulder to gain a view to the North. Soon they could see the lands before the Mountain's feet black with a hurrying multitude. Ere long the vanguard swirled round the spur's end and came rushing into Dale. These were the swiftest wolf-riders, and already their cries and howls rent the air afar. A few brave men were strung before them to make a feint of resistance, and many of them fell before the rest drew back and fled to either side. As Gandalf had hoped, the goblin army had gathered behind the resisted vanguard, and poured now in rage into the valley, driving wildly up between the arms of the Mountain, seeking for the foe. Their banners were countless, black and red, and they came on like a tide in fury and disorder.

It was a terrible battle. The most dreadful of all Bella's experiences, and the one which at the time she hated the most. Gandalf had tried to insist that she stay back and away from the fighting but she turned to look at him fiercely. "I signed up to serve Thorin, Gandalf, and that is exactly what I intend to do," she stated. Then, putting on her ring and grabbing Sting in her hand, she darted off into the fray to help assist in the battle.

The elves were the first to charge. Their hatred for the goblins is cold and bitter. Their spears and swords shone in the gloom with a gleam of chill flame, so deadly was the wrath of the hands that held them. As soon as the host of their enemies was dense in the valley, the sent against it a shower of arrows, and each flickered as it fled as if stinging with fire. Behind the arrows a thousand spearmen leapt down and charged. The yells were deafening. The rocks were stained black with goblin blood.

Just as the goblins were recovering, from the onslaught and the elf-charge was halted, there rose from across the valley a deep-throated roar. With cries of "Moria!" and "Dain, Dain!" the dwarves of the Iron Hills plunged in, wielding their mattocks, upon the other side; and beside them came the men of the Lake with long swords.

Panic came upon the Goblins; and even as they turned to meet this new attack, the elves charged again with renewed numbers. Already many of the goblins were flying back down the river to escape from the trap, and many of their own wolves were turning upon them and rending the dead and the wounded. Victory seemed at hand, when a cry rang out on the heights above.

Goblins had scaled the Mountain from the other side and already many were on the slopes above the Gate, and others were streaming down recklessly, heedless of those that fell screaming from cliff and precipice, to attack the spurs from above. Each of these could be reached by paths that ran down the main mass of the Mountain in the center; and the defenders had too few to bar the way for long. Victory now vanished from hope. They had only stemmed the first onslaught of the black tide.

Day drew on. The goblins gathered again in the valley. There a host of Wargs came ravening and with them came the bodyguard of Bolg, goblins of huge size with scimitars of steel. Soon actual darkness was coming into a stormy sky; while still the great bats swirled about the heads and ears of elves and men, or fastened vampire-like on the stricken. Now Bard was fighting to defend the Eastern spur, and yet giving slowly back; and the elf-lords were at bay about their king upon the southern arm, near the watch-post on Ravenhill.

Suddenly there was a great shout, and from the Gate came a trumpet call. They had forgotten Thorin! Part of the wall, moved by levers, fell outward with a crash into the pool. Out leapt the King under the Mountain, and his companions. Hood and cloak were gone; replaced with shining armor, and red light leapt from their eyes. In the gloom the great dwarf gleamed like gold in a dying fire.

Rocks were hurled down from on high by the goblins above; but they held on, leapt down to the falls' foot, and rushed forward to battle. Wolf and rider fell or fled before them. Thorin wielded Orcrist with mighty strokes, and nothing seemed to harm him. "To me! Elves and men! To me! O my kinsfolk!" Thorin cried, his voice shook like a horn in the valley.

Down, heedless of order, rushed all the dwarves of Dain to his help. Down too came many of the Lake-men, for Bard could not restrain them; and out upon the other side came many of the spearmen of the elves. Once again the goblins were stricken in the valley; and they were piled in heaps till Dale was dark and hideous with their corpses. The Wargs were scattered and Thorin drove right against the bodyguard of Bold. But he could not pierce their ranks.

Bella, with the ring still on, had rushed to his side as soon as they had left the Mountain. Even though he banished her, she would still die to protect him. Nobody knew she was there, so she swiftly began killing goblins and Wargs that dare try to attack Thorin.

Already behind them among the goblin dead lay many men and many dwarves, and many a fair elf that should have lived yet long ages merrily in the wood. And as the valley widened his onset grew ever slower. His numbers were too few. His flanks were poorly guarded. Soon the attackers were attacked, and they were forced into a great ring, facing every way, hemmed all about with goblins and wolves returning to the assault. The bodyguard of Bolg came howling against them, and drove in upon their ranks like waves upon cliffs of sand.

Bella stood secretly alongside Thorin, watching his six. There was so much chaos, that no one noticed the vast amount of wargs and goblins that were slain by a vicious, invisible foe. All her heartache and guilt, she used as fuel to propel her to kill mercilessly all the foes that she could. Sweat dripped from her face and her hair was matted rather terribly as it fell from its braid.

The clouds were torn by the wind, and a red sunset slashed the West. Seeing the sudden gleam in the gloom, Bella looked round. She gave a great cry; she had seen a sight that made her heart leap, dark shapes small yet majestic against the distant glow.

"The Eagles! The Eagles are coming!" she shouted, momentarily forgetting that people couldn't see her and that they were not supposed to know she was there.

"Bella?!" Thorin's panicky voice shouted over the chaos. "Bella? Are you here? Where are you?" The anguish in his voice caused her to turn and look at him. He was swinging Orcrist madly, but his eyes searched the battle field around him, looking for her. Sadness and pain shone in his icy orbs, and Bella felt her heart leap. He still cared for her. She was about to call back to him when a stone hurtling from above smote heavily on her head, and she fell with a crash and knew no more.


	20. A Quick Ending

Chapter 20: A Quick Ending

When Bella came to, she was surrounded by bodies of various species, and there was the sound of shouting coming from behind her. Somewhat dizzy after being hit on the head, she stumbled to her feet to look for the source of the familiar voice. A good ways away, she saw a sight in the sunrise that made her scream in terror. Thorin was on his back with Bolg standing over him, a blade held to her King's chest. "No!" she screamed as she started to run towards them, but she knew she would never make it.

While running, she could do nothing but watch as Bolg's blade went through Thorin's chest. He didn't even yell out in pain, he just gasped before going limp. "NO! Please no," she screeched. Bolg withdrew his sword, and as Thorin lay there unmoving, Bella felt like it was she who got stabbed. Air was impossible to get into her lungs, and tears began to pool over her cheeks. Gone. Her Thorin was gone. Dead. The last words he had said to her had been filled with hatred and malice. She could never explain to him why she did what she did.

A sudden flash of red hot anger flared in her, surprising her. She saw Bolg take off at a run away from the Mountain, since though the King was dead, the goblins and wargs had lost the battle. At that moment, Bella swore to herself that she would kill that goblin. With a final sorrowful glance at her lover, she shed one more tear before she turned to pursue Bolg.

The goblin was several times faster than her, so Bella knew that she would have to track the beast, since keeping up with him would be impossible. With her ring on, she ran through the battlefield, not looking at any of the bodies, scared that there would be people that she had known. Away from the Mountain is where she ran, following the heavy footsteps of Bolg, cursing his name. Perhaps one day she would return, since she carried the future king or queen in her whom, but she also doubted that the child would live through this recklessness. Yet, avenging Thorin was not debatable.

For many days she trekked through Smaug-desolated forests, across rocky hills and small mountains, and through large deer-infested grasslands. Food was scarce, as was water, but she managed to survive as she followed Bolg. The large goblin rarely slept and traveled swiftly. Bella wondered where he was going, but she figured that she did not care. Other goblins had joined Bolg along the way, but there were still only ten of them in total.

When she slept she got the feeling that she was being followed, but overall she ignored it. There was no one left who would care to follow her.

It was on the forty-third day away that she finally caught up to them. All of them were sleeping, including Bolg, inside a large cave. Only one was awake, a watchman, who sat outside the cave sharpening his blade. With her ring on, she slipped up behind him silently and slit the watchman's throat. He fell forward, but Bella quietly lowered the corpse to the ground before tiptoeing into the cave.

One by one, she slit the goblin's throats carefully, until there was only Bolg left. As she turned to him, she was shocked to see that he was awake, sitting up, and looking for her. "Sneaky little whelp. You've killed all my comrades in their sleep, but will you be able to hold your own while your foe is awake?"

Bolg stood up, a strange looking sword in one hand, and an ax in the other. He approached her general area slowly, and she backed up in response until they were outside the cave and standing under the cloud covered sky. The goblin simply stood and waited with a sick grin on his face, eager for her to make the first move. "Make yourself visible, so we can fight properly," he said.

Bella almost laughed, but darted to the side and made a gash along his side with Sting. She narrowly dodged as he swung the ax at her. "You vile creature! Show yourself!"

"You killed Thorin, King under the Mountain. You will die today," she snarled viciously, anger pumping the blood through her veins double time. The anguish she felt had been suppressed by her need for revenge, and it caused something inside her to snap.

Once more, she lunged forward and made a huge gash along Bolg's thigh, which squirted blood out in a tremendous amount. A loud yell escaped him as he swung his sword at her, and she could not get out of its path quick enough. It came down in an arc and slashed her across the back in the middle of her retreat. She bit her lip to keep from screaming, but Bolg knew that he got her good. Blood poured from her back and splashed the ground. Bella knew that she needed to end this fast.

Taking her sword and saying a quick prayer that it worked, she threw it straight and true so that it lodged in the monster's throat. Bolg gurgled as blood pooled from his mouth, and Bella removed the ring so that he could see the small frail creature that killed him. The goblin fell over dead, never to move again. Stumbling forward, Bella pulled Sting from its neck before walking over to a tree where she collapsed on the grass.

Bolg lay dead, and she lay dying.

The wound on her back was long and deep, sending waves of sharp pain that went radiating through her entire body. "It is done Thorin. Forgive me."

The sound of voices rang in her ears for a second before she knew no more.


	21. Of Dreams and Reality

Chapter 21: Of Dreams and Reality

_Snow fell from the sky in a thick white cloud, blocking out everything happening around Bella. All she could see was a few feet in radius around her. It was so cold that her pale fingers were beginning to tint blue. Shivers raked her body, causing it to convulse harshly. The wind howled fiercely, creating a tornado of snow and ice that swirled around her, enclosing her in its icy grasp. She stumbled along aimlessly, confused as to where she was and what was going on. The ground was flat and rocky, covered in a thick layer of snow that went up to her knees. _

_A familiar voice rang through the air: "Betrayer." It was Kili's voice. _

_ "__Thief," said Fili._

_ "__Useless," said Bofur._

_Every word cut like a knife, as they all rang around her head, slamming into the edges of her skull like sledgehammers._

_ "__Rat," hissed Dwalin._

_ "__Idiot," said Balin._

_ "__Liar," cried Ori._

_ "__Shire rat," came Thorin's voice. Bella fell to her knees as his voice rang out above them all. "Unloved, hated, monster." _

_ "__Please stop," she sobbed as she pressed her hands over her ears. "STOP!" _

"BELLA!" a voice shouted, startling her. "WAKE UP!"

Her eyes snapped open and she tried to sit up but found that she was being restrained by several sets of hands. Blinking up into the dimly lit area around her, she saw the faces of Thranduil, Tauriel, and two other female elves peering down at her. Each one had a limb firmly held down. Relief crossed all their faces as they saw she was awake.

"What's going on? How did I get here?" she asked. A pounding headache threatened to crack her skull in two as she looked around at her surroundings. She was lying in a healing room, which suspiciously looked like the one in Mirkwood.

"You're here in our home again," Tauriel said softly as everyone let go of her limbs. When she tried to sit up, she was stopped by one of the other female elves. This one had dark blond hair that was braided down her back, and she had a long, kind face with green eyes.

"You must remain lying down for now," said the she-elf. "My name is Laurel by the way, and this is Arianna." She gestured to the other female elf, whose eyes were a stunning mix of all the colors Bella could name, while her hair was as blond as Thranduil's.

Thranduil held a few leaves out to her. "They'll take away the pain," he said softly. Carefully, she reached up and grasped them, but as she was bringing them back towards her body, pain flared across her spine. As she closed her eyes firmly and sucked in air, the elves drew closer. "Your body was gravely injured in battle, and it will take some time and magic to recover."

As she placed the leaves in her mouth and began to chew them, she felt the pain already beginning to fade in her head and back. "Thank you," she said. A thought occurred to her and all the blood left her face. "The baby?! Did I… did I lose it?"

Tauriel shook her head softly with a small smile on her beautiful face. "No, we managed to save you both."

Happy tears sprung forth in her eyes as she cradled her midsection. "Thank you, thank you so much."

"When you disappeared from the battle that day long ago, we immediately sent out teams to track you down and bring you back safely," Thranduil said as he excused Laurel and Arianna from the room. "It was difficult, since you travelled sometimes invisible and very rapidly, but we finally found you. We saw your final battle with Bolg, and I must personally say that I am proud of you for holding your own, as we saw the dead bodies of the other goblins as well."

"I was very malicious," she said sadly, "but he… he k-killed…" New tears surfaced as she was forced to think about the thoughts that she'd been suppressing for a long while. Her Thorin was gone, he'd left her on bad terms and he never even got to know that he was going to be a father.

She didn't notice the looks that Thranduil gave Tauriel. "Come, we are going to take you back to the Mountain during these next few days. It'll be a bit of a journey but it should not take too long since we have requested the help of the Eagles."

"I cannot go back there," Bella murmured softly, "for I have been banished. Never again will I lay eyes on that mountain, or my family. I don't even know if anyone else from the company died."

"They are here to see you, so you can talk to them yourself," Thranduil said softly. "Do you wish to speak with them?"

"Only if I may stand up," she responded. She did not wish to seem too weak in front of her family, or what remained of it.

Tauriel nodded. "You may, just no straining to much. The wound is healed and shouldn't be too sore except for the inner muscles."

The two left the room while Bella stood up and tried to make herself look somewhat presentable. At some point someone had changed her into a nice blue gown, and braiding back her hair so that it wouldn't tangle. She was happy to see that all the blood and grime had been cleansed away as well. Nervous at the idea of seeing the dwarves again, she wondered if they would hold against her the fact that she had stolen the Arkenstone. But then again, they would not be here if that were the case.

After a moment, a knock sounded at the door, before it opened, revealing the happy faces of Fili and Kili. Tears immediately burst forth as she tackled the two of them into a fierce hug. "You both survived, thank Mahal, I was so worried!" The boys hugged her back firmly, and she was happily surprised to see that both had shining eyes from unshed tears.

Standing back, she looked them over for injuries, but both seemed right as rain. "You are uninjured?"

"Not a scratch," Fili said with a grin. "It's good to see that you are well. We were all so worried when you ran off and that it took so long to find you."

"Never do that again!" Kili added before two more figures appeared in the doorway. It was Balin and Dwalin.

"Balin! Dwalin!" she shrieked happily as she saw their grinning faces. Balin had a new cut on his cheek and Dwalin had a few new scars and tattoos, but other than that they seemed in perfect shape. Again, she lunged at the two and enveloped them both in a hug. "It's so good to see you both."

"You as well lass; gave us quite the scare you did," Dwalin said gently. "But you did well, taking down all of those goblins!"

"It's good to see you well," Balin added, before they stepped back so that five others could file into the room. It was Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Oin, and Gloin. Bella hugged them all, crying tears of joy and exclaiming loudly her appreciation that they'd all survived with only a few new scars and injuries. Next entered Dori, Nori, and Ori, who all wore happy smiles as Bella enveloped them all in a hug, sobbing all over their cloaks.

All of them engaged in an outgoing conversation before Fili piped up. "You have another visitor, but we all need to go check on a few things. We'll be back in a minute and give you two some privacy." As all the dwarves filed out of the healing room, Bella sat down on the bed, exhausted from all the crying and hugging. She was clueless as to who this other guest could be. It was more than likely Gandalf, whom she was also excited to see and speak with. She wanted to know all of what occurred while she was gone and unconscious here at Mirkwood.

A soft knock sounded on the door. "Come in," she called. The door opened and in walked a man she'd never thought she would see again. Thorin. His hair was falling in slight waves down his shoulders with a few braids splattered throughout, and his beard was cropped short like it was during their journey. He wore only simple clothing, with his fur cloak due to the winter chill in the air. He walked with a slight limp, but other than that he seemed perfectly fine. His icy blue eyes were filled with both a deep sadness and happiness as he looked upon her. He stopped several feet away from her.

"Th-Thorin? How can this be? I watched you fall! You got run through!" she exclaimed, standing up in shock. A sudden understanding washed over her as guilt filled her entire being. "Oh Mahal… That means that I left you… you were still alive and I left you!" More tears (she was surprised she had any left) pooled over her puffy cheeks as she collapsed back onto the bed.

Thorin immediately stepped forward before stopping himself. "No, do not blame yourself. You could not have known. I was unconscious immediately after the stabbing, and I was all but dead when Gandalf found me and saved my life. Damned wizard, his timing is so perfect that it is almost flawed."

"You're alive," Bella exhaled, taking him in. "But why are you here to see me? I betrayed you, stole the Arkenstone which was properly yours and gave it away to the men and elves. I am not someone you should still feel responsible to check up upon."

Thorin inhaled sharply before coming to crouch down in front of her, grasping her tiny hands in his large ones. A piercing sadness came forth in his eyes as they began to shine with unshed tears. "I came to ask your forgiveness originally, but now I know that I am not worthy of it. Even though the entire events of late were my fault, you bear the burden of guilt that does not belong to you. The words I said and my actions at the gate were not mine, but rather the monster that took over my mind. Without you having taken the Arkenstone, I fear what I would have become. I am so sorry, my Bella; if I can even call you that. You did the best thing possible for me, and even when I hung you over that wall, you were still willing to die for me, and said that you did not blame me. When I woke up and heard that you were gone after that goblin, my life shattered. I realize what I felt then was probably only a fraction of what you felt while you harbored the Arkenstone and saw me become a monster. I'm so sorry you had to go through that, but I do not ask for your forgiveness, for I do not deserve it."

Bella looked down at him with pure an utter love as she tilted his chin so that he was looking at her. "Thorin Oakenshield, do not make my decisions for me. Your actions were forgiven long ago, and have been forgotten. It was not even you who did those things, but rather the essence of dragon-sickness that still lurked in the shadows of that Mountain. I love you Thorin, and nothing is going to change that."

"What did I do to deserve your love?" Thorin asked rhetorically before standing up to place a chaste kiss on her lips. She hummed softly as she returned it, thanking the gods above for allowing him to stay with her. When they pulled apart, Thorin gazed down at her lovingly. "Bella, not as a king, but as a man, I would like to ask you something very serious."

Bella's heart picked up its pace double time as she nodded slowly at him. "Bella, my love, would you become my wife, my One, my queen?"

Yet again, more tears fell as she blubbered out a yes before lunging herself into his arms. The love she was feeling for him and the happiness she felt threatened to burst her in two as she clamped her lips upon his smiling ones. All of a sudden, the sound of loud cheers rang across the room as the dwarves entered once more, all smiling ear to ear. Thorin set her down gently, and she suddenly remembered that she had a secret that shouldn't be kept to herself and the elves anymore.

"I have something I need to tell all of you, especially you Thorin," she murmured, a blush appearing along her cheeks as everyone looked at her curiously.

"What is it?" Thorin asked nervously. "Are you alright?"

"I'm perfect," she responded. "It's just… I'm… pregnant."

Silence rang loudly across the room. Bella took in everyone's shocked faces before looking up at Thorin to see his mouth gaping like a fish's. His brows furrowed in confusion, and he looked down at her shocked. "I know I'm not a dwarf," she said softly, "and I can't imagine your subjects would be pleased about you having a child with a hobbit…"

Thorin placed a hand over her mouth, shocking her. "Stop," he scolded her, looking a tad angry. "Don't say such things. I do not want you to be a dwarf and it doesn't care what my people think. We're having a baby!"

Then the biggest smile she'd ever seen appeared on Thorin's face as he enveloped her in another hug, this time being mindful of her slightly bulging belly. The other dwarves' brains finally caught up as they burst into another round of cheers. Bella smiled into her fiancé's shoulder as she hugged him as strongly as she could. No one in all the worlds was happier than she was right now.


	22. Friendships Strengthened

Chapter 22: Friendships Strengthened

For the next few weeks, Bella was required to stay in Mirkwood for observation, while Thorin was all but dragged back to the Mountain due to the caravans coming in from the Blue Mountains. He apologized for his quick departure many times, but it was Bella who eventually forced him to go. "Thorin," she'd said finally. "Shut up and go back to the Mountain. I will be fine here with Thranduil and Tauriel while you are gone to get your sister settled. Come back for me as soon as you can."

With a fierce kiss good-bye, Thorin left hesitantly, looking back at her long after he and the other dwarves departed. Bella on the other hand just smiled. It was so good to have _her _Thorin back! Thranduil guided her back inside to her room, where he promised to fill her in on all that had happened while she was gone and out.

"So, what all exactly happened?" Bella asked as she sat down on one of her chairs.

Thranduil sat down across from her. "As soon as you fled across the battle field, many had seen you leave. While people tended to Thorin, who'd been gravely stabbed through the abdomen, I sent some of my elves to track you down. This however, proved to be difficult since you travelled quickly and invisible. Once Thorin was conscious, we told him where you were and he went mad. The dragon-sick Thorin was nothing in comparison to how he was while you were gone."

Bella choked back a sob at that. Forever the guilt would eat away at her for having left him alive on the battlefield after being stabbed. Thranduil continued. "He wanted so badly to go after you, but it could not be allowed. Duties required his attention and he was nowhere near well enough to travel. So, he sent out many groups of dwarves to follow after you as well, while having the rest of them tend to the injured. Those who weren't harmed were put to work in the Mountain, rapidly beginning to repair the dragon's damage."

"Nothing overly interesting happened then?" she asked.

"No," the King answered. "The Mountain's repairing is occurring at an incredible pace though. Already all the injured have been moved inside the Mountain, and the dwarves all have fully functional living quarters. I must say that even I am impressed at the speed in which they repaired that kingdom."

"Dwarves," she muttered. "They never stop working! I swear it would kill a dwarf to step back and relax for a while."

Thranduil chuckled. "So how long are hobbits pregnant for?" he asked, doing a 180 on the subject topic.

Bella was momentarily shocked before she smiled, cradling her barely protruding stomach since she was only two months along. "Typically with Hobbit pregnancies, we are pregnant for eight to ten months, depending on a variety of factors. However, since a dwarf was the father, and Hobbit babies are always the race of the father interestingly enough, I assume I'll be carrying this child for only another five to six months."

Thranduil looked intrigued. "Children of Hobbits always take after the father?"

"Well," Bella sighed, "it is kind of complicated. The child will be all dwarf, although she or he may still inherit certain traits from me, such as it might have my hair or eye color, or it might have Thorin's. They will also tend to be a bit more fair, so if it is a girl, she probably will not grow facial hair like a normal dwarrowdam, while if it is a boy, he might grow hair on his feet like a Hobbit, although that is rare. Overall, it will be all dwarf."

"Does Thorin know this?"

"No, I have not yet told him that any children we have will be dwarves, although I don't doubt he will be pleased. It also means the child will more likely to be accepted among the people."

They sat in silence for a moment. Thranduil studied her closely. "Do you fear his people will not approve of you?"

She sighed greatly. "I stole the Arkenstone. No dwarf in their right mind would approve of me. Plus, I left their king dying on the battlefield, and we are engaged and I am no dwarf."

Thranduil shook his head. "Dwarves are stubborn, but I think most, if not all, will come around to you sooner or later. If not, I'm certain Dwalin and Thorin will set them straight."

Bella let out a hearty laugh at that. Yes, they probably would make sure that no one spoke ill about her, though she hoped no one got in trouble for simply stating their opinions.

XXXXXX

The weeks at Mirkwood passed slowly, until the day came when Bella was awoken by the sounds of loud trumpets announcing the arrival of someone important. Leaping from her sinfully comfortable bed, she went out onto her veranda which overlooked the main gates to the palace. Approaching the gates was one Thorin Oakenshield, and following behind him was Fili, Kili, Dwalin, and Balin. Grinning wildly, she quickly changed into an elegant red gown before slinging her long hair up into a pony tail. The braids that Thorin had woven into it had long fallen out, so she would have to get him to redo them soon.

At a steady run, being mindful of the fact that she was pregnant, she bolted down to the front gates to greet her lover. There he sat on his black pony, waiting for her with a huge grin on his face. "Thorin!" she shouted eagerly, as he dismounted and she flung herself at him. "Oh how I've missed you!"

"And I you, love," he murmured softly into her ear as he gently swung her around before placing her back on her feet. Then he leaned in and stole a quick, but passionate, kiss. Mahal, how she missed this man.

"How was your trip?" she asked.

"Very good," he responded as he handed his pony to a waiting groom. The other dwarves did the same. A dark look crossed his face for a moment, shocking Bella. "I announced our engagement while I was at the Mountain, and it however, was not taken well."

The blood left her face as she swayed momentarily. Was he going to cancel their marriage? Would he take back all the sweet things he'd said and done for her? As she swayed a bit more, Thorin's hands gripped her shoulders firmly. "Bella, love, look at me."

She brought her blue eyes up to meet his, and was momentarily frozen by all the love and warmth she saw in them. "Do not doubt us," he said, "for the others will come around. Not all are upset by our engagement; in fact many are overjoyed. My sister Dis is making sure that _everyone _will be courteous to you upon your arrival at the Mountain."

A heavy hand fell on her shoulder, and she looked up into the soft, caring eyes of Dwalin. "Rest easy lass. Dis and I will be making sure that no harm from any possible revolts or objections will come to you, Thorin, and the babe."

Tears pooled over her cheeks and she wrapped her arms around Dwalin. "Thank you Dwalin," she murmured softly, surprised when he attentively hugged her back.

"No need to get all emotional now," he murmured.

"Careful where you tread Dwalin," Thorin joked. "That is my wife-to-be you are holding."

Dwalin chuckled. "Basically my little sister Thorin; don't get creepy." Dwalin reached down and picked Bella up, earning a squeal from her as she was sat upon his incredibly large shoulder. Well… everything about Dwalin was large, including his height! She did not feel like she was going to fall though, as he kept a firm hand on her knees to hold her in place, while at the same time she hung on to his other shoulder.

"Be careful Dwalin!" she shrieked. "I'm not as light as you think!"

Dwalin burst out laughing. "I could carry you with my littlest finger lass," he chuckled. Thorin as well laughed along with him. Dwalin began walking, causing Bella to grip onto his shoulder tighter.

"Do not let me fall," she hissed at the large dwarf.

"Have a little faith!" Dwalin barked. "Thorin would have my head if I allowed you to fall from my shoulder."

"Ay," Thorin chuckled, "that I would."

The other dwarves followed behind giggling as Dwalin carried her upon his shoulder all the way to Thranduil's thrown room. Even the elf-king had to grin at the sight of a disgruntled Bella upon Dwalin's shoulder. "Ah, it's good to see you have arrived all in one piece, but Bella, I thought you were marrying that dwarf?"

Bella gapped. Thranduil had a sense of humor! The other dwarves gapped as well before they burst out laughing, all except Thorin who looked kind of ticked before he walked up to Dwalin. "Ok, give me back my fiancé."

Dwalin chuckled as he pulled her off of his shoulder gently and placed her in Thorin's arms. Once she was on her feet, she poked Dwalin's arm in a joking anger, before she crossed her arms and huffed. "Carrying me like I'm nothing more than a sack of potatoes, why I never!" Dwalin pressed his fist into her shoulder gently.

"Awww. Your so cute when your pissed," Kili chuckled, fleeing when she went to slap him teasingly.

"Thorin!" she whined. "Make them stop teasing me."

"It's kind of entertaining though," the dwarf king drawled. Thranduil smirked, sitting back to watch with his fingers laced under his chin.

Bella pushed out her lower lip and looked at him with big eyes. "I guess no more lovin' for you, your Highness." Picking up her skirt like a proper lady, she curtsied low for the King as if she were no more than a mere peasant. Stifling a giggle at his flabbergasted expression, she turned tail and skipped off. When Thorin made a move to follow, she rounded on him. "Finish your guys' business with Thranduil, then come find me later. We need to chat."

With a final wink to Thranduil, she headed off down the hall, giggling once she got out of earshot. Oh what a day this was!


End file.
